


My Dear Children

by smallsthehero



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Kidnapping, Physical Abuse, Psychological Horror, Thriller
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-10-25 12:38:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10764432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallsthehero/pseuds/smallsthehero
Summary: When Rey is on her way to meet with her birth mother after a long separation, she is kidnapped by a strange man who sees her at a gas station and mistakes her for his runaway daughter. Held captive in an underground facility, Rey meets another young man claiming to be her brother who reveals the disturbing truth about why they are both there.Author's disclaimer: This is not meant to be a sweet, fluffy shipper story. I wanted to do something different than I usually do and take a darker route with my fanfiction. Warning: Without spoiling anything, there will be no sexual abuse or rape in this story but there will be physical and emotional abuse. If that triggers/upsets you then please do not read. I don't want to upset anyone, so please take this into account before reading. Thank you!





	1. Chapter One

          Rey tossed her duffel bag into the trunk of her car then pulled the door back down to close it. She was so excited. After waiting ten years and enduring hours of endless internet searches, nail-biting, and tears she had finally found her birth mother, Mira. Even better, she had gotten into contact with her and she had agreed to meet.

          As soon as the busy season died down at her workplace, Rey had taken a week off to head down to Miami and spend time with her mother. She had been taken away from her when she was seven due her mother’s drug addiction. After years of rehab and pulling her life together, Mira was finally clean and ready to face her daughter again.

Rey used to hate her mother for essentially abandoning her but now that she was an adult she had forgiven her. She understood now how hard things were for them after her father left and how hard life could be on a single mother. So even though what her mother had done was not right, Rey wanted her back in her life now that Mira had worked hard to better herself for her daughter.

She had barely slept the night before due to her giddiness and was now downing coffee to make up for it. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she unlocked it and opened up the Face Time app. There was someone she had to call first before leaving town.

Pressing the call button beside the contact name “Finn” she waited patiently while the call went through. In moments it was answered, and she grinned widely when Finn’s face popped up on her phone.

“Looking good, _mon cheri_ ,” he greeted.

“It’s time,” she practically squealed to him.

He grinned too. Rey’s happiness could be as contagious as a virus sometimes. “I’m happy for you, Rey,” said Finn. “You sure you’re ready for this though?”

She nodded as she opened up the driver’s side door to the car and slid in. “Psh of course I’m ready,” she replied, rolling her eyes at him and throwing her purse onto the passenger seat. “I’ve been in contact with her for weeks now so I’ve had plenty of time to prepare myself.”

“Nervous?”

Rey played with a loose strand of her dark brown hair. “A little, but I’m mostly excited. It’s been thirteen years—I can’t wait to see mom again.”

“Well you give me a call as soon as you get to Miami. Or give Rose a call so she can yell at me for not answering my phone.”

“Okay, I will I promise. Oh, and please don’t forget to come over and take care of Bee while I’m gone,” Rey added, catching sight of her golden retriever looking dolefully at her from the window of her apartment.

“I won’t. You be careful now, Rey. I’ll see you in a week!”

The call ended and Rey closed the Face Time app to open up the GPS. She had never driven to Miami by herself before but the GPS would get her there just fine. The app projected it to be about a six hour drive. Setting her phone down in the cup holder as the robotic voice instructed her to make a U-turn, she put the car in reverse and backed out of the apartment parking lot.

Rey had to force herself not to go over the thirty miles per hour speed limit through the neighborhood. She cranked up the radio and rolled down the windows so that the warm breeze could caress her face. It was going to be a great week, she was sure of it.

*   *   *   *

She had been driving on the highway for hours before her gas began to near empty and her bladder began to near full. Rey began paying attention to the blue signs on the side of the road, keeping an eye out for a gas station. The first sign she saw for one, she got off onto the exit that would take her there. After pulling up beside one of the pumps, Rey locked her car then ran into the station building to use the bathroom.

After relieving herself, she began perusing snacks to take with her on the drive. As she was deciding whether she wanted chips or crackers, someone walked close beside her, making her jump.

“Pardon me,” the person said. When she turned, she saw it was an older man wearing a tan bucket hat, a pair of aviator shades, and a blue striped shirt. Even though she couldn’t see his eyes, she got the feeling that he was looking at her intently. “Is that you, Nina?”

Rey stared at him in surprise for a moment before shaking her head. “No, it isn’t,” she said in an unsteady voice. His closeness was making her nervous and uncomfortable.

“You look so much like her,” he murmured, moving much closer to her than before. “I think you are Nina.”

“No, I’m not,” Rey insisted, shifting away from him in a way that she hoped wouldn’t make her seem rude. “I’m sorry, that’s not my name.”

The man grabbed her arm suddenly. “You’re too far from home,” he remarked, and began to pull her towards the door. “We should head back—your mother’s worried sick.”

Rey was now frightened and began to struggle to free herself. “No—stop it, leave me alone!” she demanded. When she finally got out of his grip, she ran towards the counter to alert the cashier. Breathing hard, she gripped the counter with one hand and pointed behind her with the other. She was shaking like a leaf and her knees felt as though they would give out at any moment. “Help me—please, that man is trying to take me.”

The cashier, a burly man with a mustache and the name tag “Nick” came out from behind the counter to immediately stand in front of Rey just as the older man was coming out of the aisle in pursuit.

“Hey, back off buddy before I call the cops on you,” Nick warned him.

The older man slowed as he approached. He looked from the cashier to Rey quivering behind him. Then he put a hand to his head. “I’m sorry,” he apologized quickly “I thought she was my daughter Nina.”

“I told you I’m not,” Rey said, moving to stand beside the cashier. She rubbed the spot on the arm where he had grabbed her, which was now sore.

He nodded. “I’m sorry but she—she ran away from home. The missus and I are really worried.”

“If you got posters of her, you can stick ‘em up on the front window,” Nick grunted. “Otherwise, don’t go ‘round grabbing young ladies and spooking ‘em half to death.”

“Won’t happen again,” the old man muttered and with that he headed for the door and made his way outside. He got into an old Chevy Impala then drove off.

When he was gone, Nick turned back to Rey. “I got his plate numbers,” he told her. “Want me to report him to the cops for you?”

Rey shook her head. “No, it’s okay. He was just a worried father—that’s all. Thanks for stepping in to help.”

Before leaving the gas station, Rey looked all around to make sure the man who grabbed her was nowhere in sight. When she was satisfied that he was gone, she put the car in drive and headed back to the highway.

She’d gone no farther than a few miles when suddenly her car began to make strange noises. Sighing at yet another delay, Rey pulled off onto the side of the highway to make an inspection. Putting on her hazard lights, she parked the car and popped open the hood. Rey knew a lot about cars but she couldn’t see a problem anywhere. Getting on her knees, she checked underneath but still didn’t see anything out of place.

That was strange. Rey got back into the car and turned the key in the ignition. It would not start. She made several attempts but it refused to turn over. Rey groaned. She would have to call a tow company and maybe catch a bus for the rest of her journey.

She grabbed her phone from the cup holder and closed out of the GPS app. She was just about to select the call option when there was a loud crashing sound in the back end of her car. Rey had no time to even think about what was happening before her head collided with the steering wheel in front of her and she lost consciousness.

*   *   *   *

When she opened her eyes again, it was to a bright light that made her close them again. She blinked a few times, trying to adjust her gaze to what was above her. It was fluorescent light that was flickering in one spot. Rey tried to recall what had happened, because the last thing she remembered was being in her car. Her head felt like it was about to split open—maybe that’s why she couldn’t remember anything.

As she became more conscious, the room became clearer. She noticed the ceiling was grey and the walls were too. It was a sickening shade of grey and the fluorescent light didn’t make it look any better. Rey realized it was all made out of cement. Weird. What sort of room would have cement walls and ceiling?

Rey tried to get up but found she couldn’t. Leather straps on her neck, chest, arms, wrists, torso, and legs kept her tied down to the bed she was laying on. This discovery sent her into a panic. She struggled against the straps, straining with all her might to burst through them. Even though almost every part of her was hurting, she continued to try. If she couldn’t get up then she couldn’t get out. And if she couldn’t get out then she would have to stay in this unsettling cement room. Tears began to burn at the corner of her eyes. She was scared. Why was she in this room? Who brought her there? And why did they have her strapped down?

She feared she wouldn’t have to wait long to find out. Whoever had brought her to the cement room and restrained her would come back to check on her. When they saw she was awake, they would probably want to talk to her. Rey considered feigning unconsciousness. She was positive that she did not want to meet them.

There was a sound of a door opening and Rey’s insides went cold. She went still, not even daring to look over in the direction of the door to see who her visitor was. As she heard the footsteps approaching, she closed her eyes. Maybe this wasn’t real—maybe it was just a dream.

She felt something cold and textured touched her forehead and she jumped in surprise. The object was pulled away from her skin and she heard a male voice say “Oh, you’re awake.”

Rey opened her eyes. There was a young man with dark hair, dark eyes, and a prominent nose looking down at her in mild curiosity. He was wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans and seemed genuinely surprised that she was no longer unconscious.

“Who are you?” she asked him in a hoarse voice.

He stared down at her for a moment with an odd look on his face—pained, maybe? Then he replied in a voice that seemed forced “It’s me, Kyle—your brother.”

“Brother?” Rey mumbled, feeling dazed and confused even further. As far as she knew, she was an only child. Whoever this young man was, he definitely wasn’t her brother.

The young man claiming to be her brother nodded solemnly and put the wet wash cloth he was holding back to her forehead. “Yes. Good morning, Nina.”

_Nina_. The name startled Rey as she recalled the incident in the gas station. The older man had called her Nina to before he tried to take her away. And while this man was definitely not the same one, Rey had no doubt that the two were somehow connected.

“I’m not Nina,” she whimpered, feeling again on the verge of tears. “Please, let me out of this room. I want to go home.”

“You are home, Nina,” Kyle replied in a somewhat monotonous tone. “You’re confused—you must have hit your head pretty hard in the accident and forgotten.” He looked her in the eye as he said it. She got the feeling he wanted to say more. Kyle looked at her like that for so long that Rey began to feel uncomfortable and had to look away.

She heard him break the silence and say “Hm, I wonder if I can get this blood stain out of your pillow.” It was an odd thing to say. She jumped when he suddenly leaned down so that his mouth was right by her ear. “Don’t panic, I’m not going to hurt you I just need you to listen to me,” he whispered urgently. “He has a video camera in this room so we can’t talk freely. I know your name isn’t Nina—mine’s not Kyle either. I need you to go along with this act though. If you don’t, he will hurt you. When you’re well enough to be moved, I’ll explain everything I promise. Until then, don’t fight it.”

Kyle sat back up, smiled and brushed her cheek gently with his thumb. “I’m glad you’re home safely, dear sister,” he said loudly, as if trying to be heard by someone now. He undid the strap on her neck but left the ones on the rest of her body. “Try to get some rest so you can heal up, okay?”

Rey swallowed hard. But she nodded slowly and replied “I will. Thank you, Kyle.”

He left, and Rey was even more frightened now than she was before. She knew who was keeping her there—it had to be the older man in the sunglasses from the gas station. If that was the case, she dreaded what his plans were for her. What would he do to her when he came back? Did he really think she was his daughter or was that a ruse to try and get her to go with him? And what was Kyle’s role in this? Did he really want to help her or was that a lie too?

She wished she could roll over onto her side but the leather straps made that impossible. Whatever was to happen to her next, it would be out of her control. The feelings of helplessness and dread combined with the searing pain from her head and body was making Rey physically nauseous. She had to take several deep breaths and force herself to calm down to fight back the rising bile in her stomach.

Rey tried to be hopeful that someone, anyone would find her and get her out of there. Maybe Kyle really was on her side and he would be able to get help. She hoped that once word had gotten out that she’d gone missing, the cashier at the gas station would be able to give the police the description and plate number of the man who was the prime suspect. They could track him down and find her. No problem.

Her traitorous, pessimistic side creeped in and whispered in her ear that things would not be that simple. The man could be keeping her in an entirely different location from his home to make her harder to find. Even if they did take him in and question him, he could just deny everything. If they found no evidence tying him to the kidnapping then he would be set free. That thought made Rey’s nausea return in full force.

_I’ll be okay_ , she told herself over and over. It was a mantra, a hope she was going to cling to with every fiber of her being until it came true. Rey closed her eyes so she could no longer see the gross cement walls, ceiling, and the flickering fluorescent light. She thought of Finn, and Rose, and her mother and how happy they would be when she saw them again. She thought of the man in sunglasses, who could very well be in police custody by now. She thought of Kyle in the next room, maybe plotting to harm her, maybe plotting to save her. _I’ll be okay_.


	2. Chapter Two

Rey was unsure of how long she laid there on the bed after Kyle left. The cement room did not have any windows so she had no concept of time. Was it day? Night? There was no way of knowing. Her cell phone had been in the car and she highly doubted that her captor was kind enough to grab it for her. For all she knew, it could have been days since she’d been taken.

          Upon examining her body, she discovered that her limbs were wrapped up with several white, gauze bandages. It hurt to move too much and she was positive that at least one bone in her leg was broken. Her head continued to throb and her vision would occasionally swim. There were bandages wrapped around that too. Clearly the car accident, if it even had been an accident, was not kind to her.

          She tried without any success to get out of the straps holding her down. They were too tight for her to slip her hands free and too tough for her to break. If she weren’t in so much pain, she might have been able to do more such as flip the bed to try and get free that way. There was little she could do in her current state and it frustrated her.

When she had exhausted her efforts in trying to get free, Rey examined the rest of the room she was in. There was one steel door which did not have a handle on her side but did have locks. It was obviously designed to discourage its inhabitants from getting out. The camera Kyle had warned her about was built into the wall above the door, its lens pointed right at her. Rey avoided looking at the camera as much as she could. It creeped her out more than the handle-less door did. Other than the light on the ceiling and a pale blue rug on the floor, the room was empty.

The bed she was on was just a simple cot with a creaky metal frame. It reminded her of the ones from a summer camp she had went to as a child. The thin mattress and feeling of bed springs digging into her back reminded her of all those uncomfortable, sleepless nights at camp. She had a pillow under her head, at least, and a sheet that was folded neatly underneath her feet. Being in a kidnapping situation, she didn’t think that she should worry too much about the state of the bed.

Rey hoped that she would be moved from the room soon. As the minutes turned into hours of her just lying there on the uncomfortable cot, she was sure she would go insane. After all, she had no idea what was going to happen to her next. She was just waiting for more hurt, or terror, or even death to come her way. Rey hated having to wait there helplessly. She wished he would just come already and reveal his purpose for taking her in the first place.

Her wish was granted when, after countless hours of fearful suspense, the door to the room opened again. This time, Rey looked to see who was walking through it. She hoped it was Kyle again so that she could get some more answers. Her body fell cold and her heart sank when she saw it was the man from the gas station. The man who called her Nina.

He no longer wore the bucket hat and shades but Rey was positive he was he same man. He had a weathered face with sunken grey eyes, thin lips, and balding hair that was mouse brown in color. The look in his eyes when he smiled at her was unsettling—it was a look of familiarity, even though Rey had only met him once before.

“You’re finally awake,” he said as he entered the room, holding a tray with a glass, a couple pieces of toast, and a pill bottle on it. “How are you feeling now, Nina?”

He set the tray down on her legs then knelt beside the bed. The man looked at her expectantly and as much as Rey wanted to scream at him that she wasn’t Nina and beg him to free her, she remained silent. Kyle’s warning of “Play along or he’ll hurt you” stuck with her. Even though she did not want to go along with it, she had to. She did not know what this man was capable of and she certainly didn’t want to find out.

“I’m okay,” she replied, although it was more to assure herself than answer him.

“You had quite the accident,” he remarked as he began to open the bottle of pills for her. “Some idiot swerved off the road and hit your car while it was parked. Luckily, I was nearby and saw the whole thing.”

Rey tried to swallow but her throat felt very dry. “Shouldn’t I go to a hospital?”

The man shook his head vigorously. “No, no hospitals,” he muttered angrily. “They don’t care—they just want their paychecks. They didn’t care ‘bout what happened to your mother and they won’t care about you either.” When he looked at Rey’s face and saw she was taken aback by his fierce response, he smiled gently and touched her cheek. She repressed a shudder at his touch so as not to upset him. “Papa will take care of you just fine, don’t you worry.”

“Papa” undid the straps on her arms and chest so that Rey could sit up and eat. He told her that she was restrained so that her body had time to heal. She considered trying to knock him out with the glass on the tray but didn’t think she was physically powerful enough to do so. Upon taking a drink of the water, she realized the cup was made of plastic anyway.

“What are the pills for?” Rey asked apprehensively as he handed her two of them.

“They’ll help you sleep,” Papa replied. “Your body needs plenty of rest right now while it heals up.”

Though every instinct in her body told her not to, Rey took the pills and chased them with water. She had a few bites of toast but found that she had very little appetite. Papa didn’t seem to mind that she wasn’t going to eat the entire thing and took the tray away when she’d had enough.

He was almost to the door when Rey decided to ask “Can I see Kyle again?”

Papa froze and she saw his grip on the tray tighten. “Your brother is—in his room right now doing some thinking. He was being unruly and is now suffering the consequences of what happens when children are disobedient to their parents.”

Rey shivered. She got the feeling that those consequences weren’t just Kyle being restricted to his room. “Is he alright?” she ventured to ask in spite of her caution.

“He’ll be just fine,” Papa replied briskly. “After all, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to take the belt to him.” With that, he pulled open the door and left the room.

Now alone, Rey undid the straps on her legs and tried to walk around the room on her own. Her sore legs gave out on the first step and she limped a few more before realizing it would take some more time before she was ready to walk again. Her head still stung but her vision wasn’t as blurry as before. Dropping back down onto the bed, Rey put her face in her hands.

So the man really was willing to hurt his own children if they stepped out of line. Kyle was evidence of that. She hoped he was alright, wherever he was being kept. If he was in the same situation as her then he had to be burning with anger at their captor and wanting to escape. So why hadn’t he been able to? It was not encouraging to think that a young man in good shape like Kyle could not overpower Papa. If he wasn’t able to then was there any hope for herself?

The pills began to take effect quickly, so with several winces of pain, Rey laid back down on the cot. As she drifted off to sleep, she tried to plan in her head ways to get out of the cell. If she surprised Papa as he came in and knocked him out, she might be able to slip outside and go get help. However, she had no idea of what was waiting on the other side of the door. Was it a house? A basement? Guards who Papa had hired to stop her from escaping? And if she did get out there and had no idea where to go next then her efforts would be fruitless. Papa would just catch her again and put her back in the room. She would have to get used to everything first before taking that risk.

Rey allowed herself to sleep. It was easier than the alternative, which was lying awake and worrying. At least sleep offered her the escape she couldn’t get in her waking hours.

She dreamed that she was walking with Rose and Finn along the beach. At first, she walked beside them but gradually they began to get farther and farther ahead of her. Soon Rey could no longer see her friends and was walking by herself. Someone grabbed her from behind suddenly and began dragging her into the cold ocean. Rey struggled and thrashed but she could not get free. Her head was pushed under the water and she panicked when her ability to breathe had been taken away.

With a gasp, Rey woke from the dream. She breathed in deep gulps of the musty, cement room air before realizing that she was never in danger of drowning. Sighing heavily, Rey looked up at the bleak, flickering fluorescent light. Sleeping or waking—it didn’t matter. It seemed like she was going to be trapped and terrified either way.

*   *   *   *

Time passed and Rey began to hurt less. She estimated about four days had gone by since she had first woken up in the cement room. She based time on Papa’s visits. He came in only once a day and it seemed to be around later afternoon since he brought her food for the day and the sleeping pills. Rey tried to refuse the pills since they were making her groggy but Papa insisted. She was still unwilling to go against him, especially after hearing what had happened to Kyle.

On the fourth day, before Papa’s visit, Kyle did come back in to see her. He brought new bandages with him and went about taking off her old ones. There was a red welt on his right cheek which Rey almost asked about but thought better of. Besides, she knew where it had come from.

It was embarrassing to Rey, having Kyle see her bare legs once the bandages were off. She had her jean shorts on still, but to have him down there at her legs and touching her so nonchalantly as he put the new bandages on was uncomfortable. He might be on her side but he was still a stranger to her. Rey did not care for strangers coming that close, let alone touching her.

Kyle must have noticed her discomfort because he stopped wrapping the bandage to look up at her. “I’m sorry,” he apologized sincerely in a low voice. “Here I am touching you when you don’t even know me. Would you prefer to do it?”

He offered the bandage roll to Rey, who accepted it gratefully and finished putting her own bandages on. Occasionally she would ask Kyle how many times around she should wrap it and he would instruct her on what to do. He did not seem bothered by her discomfort with him and she was glad that he was giving her space now.

“How much longer will I have to stay here?” Rey asked once she had finished tying off her last bandage.

Kyle, who was busy throwing the old bandages into a plastic bag, shrugged. “Few more days, probably. I think Papa wants you to be able to walk on your own before he lets you out.”

Rey watched him closely, trying to get a read on what sort of person he was. She knew he was respectful of her, at least. He’d proven that when he had backed off earlier. Other than that, he did seem to be a kind person. She noticed there was a tension in him though that went from his jaw down to his shoulders and hands. He must have been frustrated at his inability to escape. Rey could definitely understand where he was coming from with that.

“I just realized I never asked you,” he said suddenly, looking up from the bag at her. “How are you feeling?”

The look he gave her implied that his question wasn’t just about her injuries. Rey gave him a small nod to show that she understood his other meaning. “I’ll be okay,” she mumbled. “Just give me a couple days to—to adjust.”

Kyle got up from the bed with the plastic bag in one hand and the bandage roll in the other. “If you need anything, just knock three times on the door and I’ll come. Get some rest, sis.”

_Sis._ That’s right, they were supposed to be brother and sister according to Papa. Rey had never had a sibling before so she had no idea how to treat him. Show affection? Keep him at a distance? She really didn’t know what Papa would expect of them. For now, Rey decided to wait until she got out of the room and they could speak freely.

Resigned to more waiting, she laid back down on the cot. Papa had not yet come in that day to give her the sleeping pills but she still felt groggy from the previous nights. Rey didn’t want to fall asleep again since her dreams hadn’t been very good lately. Still, she didn’t have anything else to do and in no time she had drifted off again to whatever horrors awaited her in sleep.

 


	3. Chapter 3

          Rey estimated it to be about two weeks before the pain in her leg was finally lessened. Papa had brought her a pair of crutches to use on the day he said she could leave the cement room. After watching her practice hobbling around on them, he seemed satisfied that she would be allowed to leave.

          “It’ll be a while before you can walk on your own again,” he remarked “but you’ll get there eventually. Here, let me do your hair.”

          Obediently, Rey sat back down on the bed and stayed stock still while Papa picked up the brush he’d brought with him. She continued not moving a muscle while he brushed, dragging the bristles through her long dark hair with a gentleness she had not expected.

Even so, she felt sick to her stomach about it. Being silent and compliant went against everything in Rey’s nature. She couldn’t believe that she was just letting him pretend that she was his daughter. She really was afraid of Papa though. And that’s what kept her silent.

          Playing along seemed to be the safest thing to do anyway rather than trying to beg for her freedom. Besides, until her leg healed up there would be no running off as she had wanted to do in the beginning. Planning her escape would take time. Even though she wanted to scream and run away from him every time he came near or touched her, staying silent was the smarter option.

          Luckily he had been gentle with her so far. He had not made any unwanted advances or hurt her. It scared Rey to think that he genuinely thought she was his daughter Nina. She wondered what had happened to the real Nina. Had he killed her, and in his guilt decided to try and find a replacement? Rey wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.

          “You have beautiful hair,” Papa complimented her, pausing in brushing to run his fingers through it. “Just like your mother. She always had the loveliest hair too.”

          Rey felt her stomach churn uncomfortably but she gave a small “Thank you” and it was silent once more. The mention of his wife in past-tense made her more nervous. “Can I ask you something?” she said suddenly, breaking the silence in the cement room.

          “Of course, sweetheart.”

          Rey took a deep breath then asked “What happened to mom? I’m having trouble remembering because of my head injury.”

          She felt the bristles dig a bit harder into her scalp and she winced in pain. “Nina, we talked about this,” Papa replied in a tone of voice with an edge to it. “Mama went home to be with the angels.”

          “How did she get there though?” Rey persisted. She wanted to know what had happened to the real Nina’s mother. Had she been killed by him too? If that were the case, Rey knew she would have to try and move her escape plans up. The sooner she got out of there, the better.

          Papa gave her hair a tug as he began to braid it. “I told you not to bring her up,” he warned, his formerly gentle voice turning dangerous in an instant. “She got that sickness from going into the city—that’s why you and your brother are gonna stay down here. I gotta keep you both safe so you don’t get the sickness and die too.”

          “Where is here though? Where are we?”

          There was another tug of her hair, harder this time. “Keep quiet, girl. You’re asking too many questions that are gonna get you a beating. Be grateful you got a roof over your head and food in your belly. Now let me finish your hair so I can show you the rest of the home.”

          She said nothing in reply but dug her fingers into her legs. It was enough to drive a person mad, being held against her will in an undisclosed location and refused answers to all her questions. Rey was a strong young woman though. She had been through so many trials that life threw her way. This was just another one that she would have to be smart and brave enough to rise above.

          Rey nearly cried with relief as she stepped out of the cement room. It had felt like an eternity that she was in there on the uncomfortable cot, always wondering if each day was going to be her last. Outside of the room was what looked like a partially finished basement. There was a carpeted area with a television, a bookshelf, one couch, and a dusty fireplace. A small kitchen with a fridge, stove, sink, and microwave was around the corner and then the rest of the basement was open and grey.

          Two other rooms were down there also, one of which Papa led Rey towards. She was wary at first of being confined to another cement room but Papa assured her he had spent a great deal of time making it look nice for her.

          “You’re going to like this room, I’m sure of it,” he told her with a grin that made Rey suppress a shudder.

          He opened the door and it was an explosion of pink. The walls, bed, and even carpet were all an extremely bright shade of the color. Dolls and toys lined the shelves and the small bed had a canopy over it and a pink bedspread. It looked like a little girl’s dream bedroom but it just made Rey queasy. Still, she attempted a grateful smile and a small “Thank you” as she entered the room.

          “There’s some clean clothes in the closet and wardrobe for you,” said Papa as she pretended to be examining some of the dolls on the shelf. “Bathroom and shower are around the corner from Kyle’s room. If you do shower, be careful with your leg splint in there. I have some errands to run so make yourself at home. We’ll have dinner in the kitchen at five.”

With that, he shut the door on her. His footsteps could be heard going up some steps that Rey had not seen when she was out there. She listened closely to the sound of some keys jingling and then one being inserted into a lock. A door opened, closed, and then there were footsteps above her that gradually faded away.

          Rey hobbled towards the door and tried the handle. She let out a sigh of relief when it opened for her. She exited the sickeningly pink room and went to explore the rest of the basement. Rey quickly found the stairs, which looked old and rickety. They led up to a heavily locked door that she was sure could not be unlocked on their side without the keys.

It was not a comforting sight. Rey considered trying the stairs on her crutches but didn’t want to risk falling and breaking anything else. Her leg in its homemade splint that Papa had put together would be difficult to manage on the stairs.

          Disheartened, Rey began to explore the rest of the basement. The windows there look like they had been blocked off with either dirt or cement. There would be no escaping that way. So if she was to get out of there, it would have to be through the door at the top of the stairs. And if she wanted to get up there, she would have to wait for her leg to heal.

          As she was examining the pile of DVDs beside the TV in the living room area, she heard a door open behind her which made her jump. Turning around, she saw Kyle exiting the room beside hers with a book in his hand. He seemed surprised to see her too.

          “He finally let you out of there,” Kyle stated when he saw her standing there in the living room.

          “Yeah,” Rey replied, feeling nervous and awkward. It was different before, being in the room with Kyle coming in occasionally to tend to her. Now they were occupying the same living space and would probably be seeing each other every day. Though she was glad to have someone else there, it was still uncomfortable being down there with a stranger. After all, she still had no idea what type of person Kyle really was. For all she knew, he could be just as crazy and creepy as Papa.

          She watched as Kyle walked over and stood before her. He was a lot taller than she had originally thought. It was hard to tell while sitting on the bed. He towered over her and had a gaze that was intense and difficult to meet. Rey looked down at the floor.

          “Did the bastard leave?” he asked her.

          Rey nodded. “Yeah. About five minutes ago.”

          “Good,” said Kyle, dropping down onto the couch. Rey looked up and saw that he had opened his book and was getting ready to read. “I fucking hate him.”

          She looked around the room unsteadily. “Aren’t you worried about him hearing you?”

          Kyle shook his head, his gaze fixed on his book. “No, that was one of the first things I tested when I got taken. I pretended to be on the phone with police to see if he would get spooked and come back down here. He never did. I’ve also said some pretty bad stuff about him to double check. That psycho would definitely have come down here and given me a beating if he’d heard what I said.”

          Rey noticed his grip on the book tighten when he spoke about Papa. Clearly he held a good deal of animosity towards him. Examining the rest of him, he seemed to be physically strong too. Rey couldn’t understand why he was a prisoner here when he seemed more than capable of overpowering Papa and escaping.

          He looked up at her finally and seemed to guess what she was thinking. “You’re wondering why I’m still here, if I hate him so much?” he asked her. “Well I’ll tell you right now that I have tried to escape, more than once. He may not look like it, but Papa is strong and quick. Every time he beats me down before I can even get to the stairs. Last time I tried, he pulled a gun on me and said that if I ever do it again, he’ll put a bullet in my head.”

          “He has a gun?” Rey asked in a small voice.

          Kyle nodded. “Yeah, he keeps it tucked under his shirt. And I wouldn’t mind getting shot at but—well I’d rather not risk dying, y’know? So I figure I’ll bide my time until I can figure out a way to put a bullet in his head.”

          She swallowed and nodded. “I didn’t know about the gun.”

          “You’re lucky you had someone to tell you what that monster’s capable of. If I had, I would’ve played this game a lot smarter than I have so far.”

          Rey felt her legs begin to shake. She turned back to the movie selection, trying to calm herself. Keeping calm was her top priority ever since getting captured. As long as she was calm, she could think of a way out of this horrible situation.

At the moment, she was physically incapable of doing anything that would help her get away. It was frustrating, and to hear that Papa was strong and had a gun that could end her life in an instant was even scarier than before. She fought back tears as she hobbled away from the movies and towards the fridge to see if there was any water.

          “You don’t owe me anything, you know,” she heard Kyle say from the living room. When she turned to look at him, he was still looking down at his book.

          “What do you mean?” Rey asked.

          Kyle finally turned to look at her with his dark, intense eyes. “You don’t have to share anything with me,” he told her. “Your real name, your back story, any personal information—you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. Hell, if you don’t even want me in the same room as you, I’m alright with that. I’ll leave you be. But believe me when I say that I _will_ help you escape from here, I promise. You’ll be free again someday.”

          His words seemed sincere and they brought warmth to the cold encasement of fear had her wrapped up tight. It gave Rey hope to know that there was someone on her side in this.

          “My real name is Rey,” she told him. She paused, then added “Will you tell me yours?”

          He considered her for a moment before responding “It’s Ben. Ben Solo.”

          She smiled at him. “Thank you for looking out for me, Ben.”

          “You’re welcome, Rey.” He then turned back around and resumed reading his book.

          To hear her name spoken aloud had a greater impact than she thought it would. For two weeks, no one had called her that. Now, to hear it without having to worry about enraging her unstable captor, Rey held that feeling of hope close to her chest. Papa might have stolen her freedom and tried to replace her identity with a new one, but that hope was something he would not be able to take away. In spite of the odds, Rey chose to be hopeful that someday she would be free again—they both would.

*   *   *

          Days passed, and Rey began trying to adjust to her new life. So far, she had not had much luck. It was difficult, not being able to come and go as she pleased. Every time she thought of her aunt and uncle, who had been her foster parents after she was taken from her mother, she got a sick feeling in her stomach. And not just them but Finn and Rose, all her friends, and her birth mother—they must be so scared and worried by now. For all they knew, she was dead somewhere. She wished that there was some way to contact them and let them know she was alive. Unfortunately, Papa had not left them any form of communication to the outside world in their basement prison.

          So Rey tried to stay positive and focus on getting her strength back. Her leg still hurt but she practiced walking around the basement on the crutches daily, hoping that the pain would start to go away soon. There were some positives in her situation, one of them being that she had food, water, and a bathroom to shower in. And despite Papa’s behavior towards her being unsettling, he didn’t appear to have any desire to hurt her. She kept up her act of being a good, obedient daughter and that seemed to placate him.

          Ben was better around Papa too. Even though Rey knew how much he hated his captor, whenever he came down to see his “children” and have dinner with them, Ben remained quiet and respectful. Rey wondered if he was forming a plan and wanted to keep Papa unaware of his intentions.

Ben kept her at a distance too. He stayed in his room if she was in the kitchen and only used the living room if she wasn’t in there. While Rey was grateful for the space, after a while she began to realize how lonely it felt. She barely spoke at all now, and definitely didn’t get to voice any of her thoughts and frustrations about their plight.

          One day, Rey decided to attempt talking to Ben. She couldn’t stand being so quiet anymore. She was practically bursting with the need to talk to somebody about everything that had happened. Plus there were questions she had and she wondered if Ben might have any answers to them.

          He was sitting on the couch again, drawing something on a sketchpad with a pencil. Curious, Rey looked over his shoulder to see it. He was sketching a landscape with a lake, trees, and mountains in the background. Rey was impressed with his skill.

          “That’s incredible,” she commented.

          “Thanks,” Ben replied, continuing to sketch. “Did you want the living room? I’m almost done so I can just take this in the bedroom with me.”

          Rey hobbled on her crutches around the couch so she could sit down beside him on it. Leaning the crutches against the wall she said “No, I actually came out here to talk to you.”

          He glanced over at her from his drawing briefly before returning his eyes back to the page. “What did you want to talk about?”

          “Anything,” Rey blurted, leaning back against the surprisingly comfortable couch. “I’ve been in this prison for over three weeks now and I can’t stand it any longer. I need someone to talk to.”

          His gaze was gentle and sympathetic when he looked at her again. “I know,” he replied quietly. “I’m sorry, I should have been less standoffish to you. When I was first brought here, I had no one. Papa was the only one I saw on a daily basis and I did _not_ want to talk to him. I guess I just got used to being distant and anti-social since then.”

          “How long have you been here?” Rey asked him.

          “By my estimate, about three months, two weeks, and five days,” he said. He gave a short, humor-less laugh. “Not that I’m keeping track or anything.”

          Rey couldn’t imagine how lonely that much have been for him. “How did he get you?”

          “Jumped me then drugged me while I was taking the garbage out at my workplace. He’d been in a few times that week but I didn’t think anything of it. Thought he was just an average customer.” Ben closed his eyes. “I never saw it coming. And I don’t think any of my co-workers did either.”

          “Do you think they’ll ever find us?”

          He took a deep breath and continued his drawing. “That’s the hope, I suppose. God knows where we’re being kept though. I’m not gonna hold my breath.”

          Rey twisted her fingers together. “I can’t believe this happened,” she admitted. “I’ve watched so many TV shows and read tons of stories where people get kidnapped and held prisoner. You can’t really wrap your head around what they went through. It’s so much different when it actually happens to you.”

          Ben nodded. “You’re right, it is. Still, don’t even try blaming yourself for this happening. There is nothing you could have done to stop it.”

          “I guess so.” She disagreed with him. There were lots of things she could have done. She could have allowed the cashier at the gas station to call the police on the man after he tried to grab her. She could have waited there for a longer period of time before setting off again. Perhaps she could have even been quicker at the station so Papa wouldn’t have had time to sabotage her car.

          “It’s not your fault,” he insisted firmly, locking his dark eyes onto hers. “That bastard hurt you just to drag you here and hurt you more. He’s a monster and as soon as we get out of here I swear I’ll put him down myself.”

          She laid her head down on the arm rest of the couch. “I could have done something. He tried to take me away at the gas station. I had the chance to turn him in to the police. If I had—if I had then they could have found you. You would be free by now if I had just done the right thing.” Rey couldn’t meet his eye now that the truth was out. Riddled by guilt and hopelessness, she buried her face into the soft arm rest.

          She felt a hand rest on her shoulder—Ben’s hand. “The only one responsible for us being stuck down here is Papa. Please, don’t blame yourself for that.”

          She lifted her head and looked over at him. There was a melancholy in the smile he was giving her, the type of smile you give one who is grieving. It was meant to be uplifting and encouraging, but she could see the sadness in it, the pain in his eyes from being unable to help either of them. In that moment, Rey decided to allow Ben into her heart. She decided that he could be trusted.

          So she talked to him, told him everything about her situation and where she had been headed before she was taken. It all came out in a flood of words, more than she had ever spoken to anyone in a long while. She told him about her life, things she liked, her friends, and her dog at home. He listened quietly, his sad smile turning into a happier one as she spoke. Clearly, conversation was something he had been craving as well.

          In return, Ben told her about his life. He described his job as a high school art teacher and his part time job at a local grocery store. Rey learned that he had an older brother and two younger sisters, the youngest of which was only ten. His parents had a rocky relationship that was made rockier when his mom got pregnant with her fourth child. They had almost divorced more than once over the course of Ben’s life but somehow always managed to reconcile and stay together.

          “I guess love is weird like that,” he remarked. “Still, I hope my disappearance isn’t the straw that breaks the camel’s back in their relationship.”

          “It won’t,” said Rey. “It’ll probably bring them closer together.”

          Ben snorted. “I doubt it.”

          “Well—love is weird like that.” While Ben chuckled at her throwing his words back at him, Rey remembered that she had questions needing answers. “Do you know what happened to the real Kyle and Nina?”

          He shook his head. “Not really, but I have a couple guesses. I think I know where we can find out though.” He got up from the couch and gestured for Rey to follow him. Ben led her through the unfinished part of the basement towards a door that Rey had overlooked before during her explorations. It was wooden and had lots of chips and scratches on it. A padlock kept it locked up tight.

          “In there?” Rey asked, nodding at the door.

          “Uh-huh,” Ben replied. “I got the shit kicked out of me for trying to bust it open once. Whatever’s in there, he doesn’t want us to see it.”

          Rey squeezed the handles of her crutches, feeling a sense of dread emanating from the door. She had a bad feeling about whatever was behind it.

          Ben glanced over at her. “I feel it too,” he told her.

          She took a few hops backwards on her crutches, away from the door. “I don’t think I want to find out what’s in there.”

          “Maybe not,” he muttered. “Still, it may be important to helping us figure things out.”

          They headed back into the living room after deciding that they shouldn’t try and get through the door just yet. Ben went to the kitchen and got Rey a glass of water, bringing it back out for her. He dropped down onto the couch, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes.

          “Well, we still have a few hours ‘til our dear father get back here for dinner. What would you like to do, Rey?”

          Setting her crutches against the wall, Rey drew her legs up onto the couch. It had been a roller coaster of a day and she needed something to take her mind off things. “Let’s watch a movie,” she suggested. “Have you ever seen _‘Pride and Prejudice?’”_


	4. Chapter 4

          Days turned into weeks and soon it had been over a month since Rey’s abduction. Though she yearned daily to get out of there, she had adjusted to life as a prisoner. She continually told herself that things could be a lot worse so she should just count her blessings and focus on planning an escape.

          She kept track of time in a diary that Papa had given her. Since it had a lock on it, she also wrote down various escape plans since he probably wouldn’t read it. He must have assumed that she would only use it for typical, preteen girl secrets. Rey kept the key on her at all times anyway, just in case.

So far, the majority of her plans involved her having two working legs. And while her leg was getting better each day, it was not yet to the point where she could put weight on it without wincing. Every day she would try to walk, and every time it hurt she would nearly break from frustration. More time spent recovering meant less hope for those looking for her back home. Rey wanted to get back and let them know she was alright. It killed her that she was causing so much worry for those she loved.

          Clothing had become an issue as well. Papa filled her closet one day with bags of preteen girls’ clothes, hardly any of which fit her. She didn’t dare complain to him about it though for fear of upsetting him. Instead, she was now forced to walk out of the room in shirts that clung too tightly and showed too much of her torso.

If she had been alone she wouldn’t have minded as much but Ben was there too. He was a man, after all. She had no idea if skimpy clothes would be what turned him on. And if that were the case, given their close proximity and seclusion, who knew what would happen? Rey ended up just tying a sweatshirt around her waist or putting a blanket around herself to cover up whenever she had to wear something especially ill-fitting in front of him.

          Ben didn’t appear to care about what she was wearing though. As they spent more time together, he seemed to be growing fond of her but not in the way Rey was nervous that he would. Whenever he spoke to her, his eyes remained on her face and not her chest or showing skin. He never steered the conversation into any flirtatious territory and his questions about her life were generally innocent ones.

          Rey found that she was very grateful having Ben around. Every day he managed to come up with something fun for them to do to pass the time. They would play games, watch movies, or even just sit there and talk. He was easy to talk to and always managed to keep the conversation interesting.

          Ben had also offered to teach Rey how to draw, an offer she readily accepted. She had never been great at art but had always wanted to learn. He was a good teacher too, very patient and helpful. Plus he knew a lot about art history and would often share fun facts with her while they worked.

          “Did you know that they nabbed Pablo Picasso on suspicion of him stealing the Mona Lisa?” he asked Rey one day as she was doing a still life of one of her dolls. 

          She laughed. “Wow seriously? Did he do it?”

          He looked up at her from his own picture and grinned. “I’ll leave that up to you to decide.”

          Rey groaned. “Oh come on, tell me!”

          “I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you the same deal I give my art students: If you can come up with a good explanation for why he is either innocent or guilty by the end of the school year, I’ll tell you what really happened.”

          “That’s just mean.”

          Ben waved her off. “Oh half of them just Google the answer anyway. The other half give me some pretty good stories. My favorite was about Picasso being a famous treasure hunter and selling his spoils on the black market.”

          She giggled as she erased the eyes of her doll. For some reason, she found the eyes to be the hardest part to draw. This was her third time erasing. And even though Ben had encouraged her not to erase but instead improve upon what was there, she still did it out of habit.

          “Do you miss your students?” Rey asked as she started her fourth attempt of the doll’s eyes.

          He nodded, his smile fading. “Yeah, I do. I’ve been told that I’m one of their favorite teachers. Some of them I’ve had in my classes since they were freshmen, and this year they’ll be seniors. I may not even get to see them graduate.” Ben sighed. “I had some really great lessons planned for the year too.”

          Rey could hear the sadness in his tone and it made her heart clench. He was always so hopeful about getting out of there. Hearing his wavering confidence was upsetting.

          “Sorry,” he apologized quickly “I shouldn’t talk like that. Sometimes it’s hard to see the end of our imprisonment here.” He lifted himself a bit off of his spot on the couch, trying to look over at her sketch pad. “How’s the still life going?”

          She pushed it into her chest. “Please don’t look at it, it’s awful. The eyes are terrible and its face is too pudgy.”

          He held out his hand and gave her an encouraging smile. “May I, please?”

          Rey hesitated, feeling nervous as she always did whenever she showed him her drawings. Ben could draw beautiful landscapes and realistic-looking people. She had only just graduated from drawing stick figures. Rey knew if she was going to learn anything about improving though, she would just have to trust him. So she handed him the sketch pad.

          She kept her eyes on his face as he looked at it. His mouth was closed as his dark eyes scanned the page, looking at every detail. Then he smiled, but in a proud way instead of a mocking one. “You’re improving.”

          “You think so?” she asked as he handed the sketch pad back to her. “To me, it still looks bad.”

          “Art is subjective, Rey, never forget that. What your eyes may see as terrible, other eyes will see as good. It’s the way of the world and why there’s so much conflict and argument. You’ll rarely find anyone who agrees with you on everything.”

          She continued to look at him, at the gentleness in his face as he spoke. He had the look of someone who had spent a lot of time thinking about this, trying to come up with an explanation for the world before finally making peace with what it was.

Sometimes she worried that maybe all of it was an act and that Ben was just as malicious as Papa. The thought was disturbing to entertain, but after getting kidnapped she couldn’t help feeling like her trust in others had fallen by the wayside.

          “Do you want me to lend you a couple shirts?” Ben asked her suddenly, shaking her from her thoughts. “I’ve seen that yours are a bit—ah—small.”

          Rey felt her cheeks burning. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice that,” she admitted quietly.

          “I wasn’t going to say anything but you look pretty uncomfortable. So yeah, I can give you some shirts that will actually fit you.”

          Giving up on perfecting the doll’s eyes, Rey set down her drawing pad and followed Ben to his room. She had never been in there before since he was respecting her space and it was only right to do the same for him. His room looked like it would be comfortable for a fourteen year old boy to stay in. There were sports posters and trophies, a television with a video game console attached, and some action figures from various well-known films on the shelves.

          “If you want to come in and play on the game console, feel free,” he told her. “I’m not a big fan of video games but it’s a good distraction sometimes.”

          Rey walked around the room, examining the shelves. “I’d prefer this one to my room any day. At least it’s not a sickening shade of pink.”

          “We can trade if you like,” he offered as he began to dig through the wardrobe. “One of my students painted me some flowers once that remind me of that shade of pink. It’s not as terrifying the longer you stare at it.”

          On the shelf, she found a photograph of a young boy in a baseball cap. He was holding a fishing pole in one hand and a decent sized fish in the other. Rey picked up the frame and held it closer to her face so she could examine it. Her mouth went dry when she realized it was probably a picture of the real Kyle.

          “Have you seen this?” she asked Ben without tearing her eyes from the haunting photo.

          She felt him approach and look over her shoulder. He made a sound that might have been a sigh. “Yeah, I have. I figure it’s supposed to be a photo of me.”

          Rey gripped the photo tightly in her hand. “It’s messed up. It’s so messed up.”

          “I know. Still, we just have to keep our heads and not let it get us down.” He reached out, gently pried the picture from her hands, and placed it back on the shelf. “Here, you want the Iron Man shirt or the Star Wars one?”

          After selecting a couple shirts, Rey took them back to her room and set them on the dresser. She decided to wear one the following day since the yellow shirt she had on wasn’t as tight on her as the rest. She then joined Ben back in the living room to finish her drawing lesson for the day.

          As they talked, the topic strayed somehow to relationships. Rey shifted a little bit as they spoke. While she didn’t want Ben to steer the conversation into dangerous waters, a small part of her wished that he would. She wondered if that was just her own loneliness speaking or if she really could be attracted to him.

          To her relief, and somewhat dismay, he did no such thing. Instead, Ben spoke of his past girlfriends (and boyfriend) and how they all somehow managed to end explosively.

          “I don’t know what it is,” he told her. He had finished his own still life drawing and was now doodling what appeared to be cartoon characters. “I’m not much of a yeller myself but I always manage to date one. So when it comes time to end things, I just get screamed at for a while.”

          Rey cocked her head to one side. “Has anyone ever broken up with you first?” she asked.

          He chewed lightly on his pencil’s eraser. “I’ve had four girlfriends and one boyfriend in the past. Of those five, only one broke up with me first. Her name was Laura, and I found out after the break-up that she had cheated on me. The guilt had been too much for her I guess, so she ended things with me and got together with him.”

          “Well, I suppose that was courteous of her.”

          Ben snorted. “Yeah, other than the cheating on me part. But I’m not upset anymore though, because five months after we broke up he got her pregnant. And then he cheated on her with someone else. So the cycle continues and karma remains a bitch. What about you? Any juicy drama stories to share?”

          Rey shrugged a shoulder. “I guess I have one. When we were in middle school, both Rose and I had a huge crush on our friend Finn. Since we were friends though, we decided to make a truce where neither of us would make a move on him. Well, at a spring dance in eighth grade, Finn and I kissed. He asked me out but I remembered the truce and felt super awful about it so I turned him down. And then, like maybe two months later, he and Rose got together. They’ve been together ever since.”

          Ben whistled. “That’s a very long time to be with someone. And you were okay with that even though you liked Finn?”

          “I wasn’t for a while,” she admitted. “In fact, after it happened I refused to speak to either of them for a long time. But I made peace with it though and before high school started I gave them my blessing. Besides, I found out that there’s other cute boys in the world besides Finn.”

          “Reminds me of the high school drama I overhear,” he commented. “One of the faculty members’ guilty pleasures at our school is listening to teenage gossip then sharing it at lunch with the other teachers. It’s both amusing and a good way to keep an ear open for any major problems going on.”

          Rey smiled. “Drama is entertaining, just as long as it doesn’t involve me.”

          “Any other stories to share?”

          “Not really. I haven’t dated a whole lot since Finn. I’ve had like—two, three boyfriends up to now?”

          Ben chuckled. “You don’t know if you were actually dating them or not?”

          “Well, it depends on how you define dating. Two we were officially dating but there were others that I just sort of talked to and maybe messed around with once or twice.”

          “Gotcha.”

          She eyed him with teasing suspicion. “Are you judging me right now?”

          Ben batted his eyes innocently at her. “I’m your brother, dear. I’m supposed to judge you.”

          Rey grabbed one of the couch pillows and gave him a friendly whack over the head with it a few times. Laughing, Ben lifted his arms to shield himself from the blows.

          “No please, I’m allergic to upholstery!” he exclaimed.

          “Guess you’d better get off this couch then.” Rey began trying to push him off but he just continued to laugh and rolled back to make it harder for her to move him.

          “Stop, my back is super sensitive to touch,” he explained through his laughter as she tried to dig her fingers under him to push him off.

          Rey kneeled over him, looking victoriously down at his curled up frame. “Say that you give up first,” she demanded of him.

          “Never,” said Ben. In a swift motion, he got up from the couch and scooped Rey up into his arms. Before she could ask what he was doing, he dropped her back down onto the soft couch. She bounced once then lay there on her back. She was stunned for a couple moments but then broke into delighted laughter when she realized what had happened.

          “You’re such a dork,” she told him, whacking him lightly on the leg with the previously discarded pillow.

          Ben sat down on the couch by her legs. He was looking down at her with a look in his eyes that Rey couldn’t place and decided she didn’t care about placing. Her heart was so full of affection for Ben in that moment that she couldn’t care less about any ulterior motives he might have.

          Her laughter subsided and there was a sudden silence between them as Ben continued to look down at her sprawled form on the couch. An odd feeling came into Rey’s stomach as his dark eyes were on her. Was she suddenly scared of him? Still full of that affection for him? Or perhaps this was something new, something she was hesitant to tap into just yet given their current situation.

          Ben was the first one to break the silence. His lips parted and he got as far as “Rey, I—” before his expression darkened and he fell silent. Rey heard an odd sound and looked over to see that he was now gripping the couch tightly with his hands.

          “Ben, what is it?” Rey asked, sitting up and staring at him with worry.

          “He’s back,” Ben muttered to her. “I just heard the door open upstairs.”

          As with every visit from Papa, Rey felt like someone had converted her stomach into a freezer. Listening, she could hear the footsteps approaching the door at the top of the stairs. There was the sound of keys, of locks being turned, the door being opened, and then the dreaded sound of Papa’s voice.

          “I’m home, kiddos!” he called down to them, just as normal as anything.

          Rey sat up quickly, wincing. Ben had her so distracted before that she hadn’t even felt the pain in her leg. Now it was back in full force. She wondered if Papa’s reappearance had anything to do with the level of pain she felt in it.

          The two of them did not move from the couch, not even when Papa reached the bottom of the stairs and strode over to them. He was grinning that strange, borderline maniacal grin he always had as he stood in front of them. Putting his hands on his hips, he continued to grin as he asked “What are you kids up to now? Plotting another race car obstacle course for the kitchen?”

          “No,” Ben replied smoothly “but that’s a great idea, Papa. Nina, do you want to set one up tomorrow with me?”

          “Sure, Kyle,” Rey went along. She had to force herself not to call him Ben. “My dolls can be the audience.”

          Papa threw back his head and laughed, a laugh that was a little too long and too hearty for what had been said. “You two are my pride and joy. Come now, Nina, get the table set while I make dinner. We’re having fish and rice tonight.”

          Rey did as she was told. Papa instructed Ben to started boiling the water for the rice while he prepared the fish. Neither of them argued with Papa, even though Rey knew that Ben was itching to deck him in the face so they could escape. The gun was clearly visible on his left side, a reminder of what would happen if their attack should fail.

          As Rey set out the forks, she felt Papa’s hands on her shoulders suddenly. She stiffened at the touch.

          “I’ve seen your drawings, Nina,” he said to her. “When did you get so good at drawing? You always told me you hated art projects in school.”

          Rey swallowed hard and replied quietly “Kyle’s been teaching me to draw.”

          For some reason, this made Papa’s grip on her tighten. Rey shut her eyes. _Please don’t hurt us_ , she thought over and over in her mind.

          “Has he now?” Papa mused. “What else has he been doing with you?”

          She feigned innocence with a shrug. “Well, we play games, watch movies—”

          “You been fuckin’ her?” the older man demanded, his tone suddenly hostile.

          Rey was confused. How could he possibly have come to that conclusion based on the drawing lessons? They were always doing such innocent things whenever he came down to see them. She wondered if maybe this stemmed from something that the previous Nina and Kyle had done.

          “I haven’t touched her,” Ben replied, his tone firm but not disrespectfully so.

          “I seen the way you look at your little sister, boy,” said Papa, his tone so low now that it was practically a growl. “I read about these things before in magazines and I know what’s on your mind when you look at her. You stay the fuck away from your sister, you understand me?”

          There was silence in the kitchen. Papa was now gripping Rey so hard that she could barely suppress a whimper of pain. She didn’t dare look at Ben for fear of Papa guessing that there could be something between them. So she stared at the half-set table, shaking as his fingers dug into her and started cutting off her circulation.

          “Nina’s my sister,” Ben said after a few moments. “I would never do anything like that to her.”

          “You’re goddamn right you’ll never do that,” said Papa. He released Rey, who gripped the back of the kitchen chair for support as her legs continued to shake. “Nina, baby, you let me know if he so much as lays a finger on you, you hear me?”

          “Yes Papa,” Rey replied, her voice sounding much stronger than she felt. Not knowing what else to do, she released the chair and resumed setting the table.

          Papa’s good spirits had returned at dinner. It was like he had never uttered a harsh word in his life from the way he spoke to them. He told them about his day, as he usually did. From what he had told them, he had a job doing security at a building for “some very important folk.” It explained why he was so quick and strong. Rey wondered if he had been in the military as well.

          “So Nina, are you going to try out for the school musical in the fall?” Papa asked her when he had finished describing his day in full detail.

          Rey looked up from her mostly torn apart but not eaten fish. “What?” she replied, caught off guard by the question.

          He smiled at her and the crinkles by his eyes multiplied. If she had seen him out in public and knew nothing about him, he might have appeared to be a kind man to her. Here in this basement prison though, all Rey saw was terror in that smile.

          “You were so good as Dorothy in Wizard of Oz last year,” he went on. “Several parents came up to me after the show and told me how amazing you were. I hear it’s gonna be Music Man this year. You’d make a wonderful Marian.”

          Rey attempted a smile and a modest shrug. “I don’t think I’m that good.”

          “Nonsense, you’ve got the theater in your blood. I remember going to see your mother perform at the Santa Belle Theater in town. She had the voice of an angel, just like you do.”

          “Thanks, Papa.”

          He pointed his fork at Ben. “And you, son, you should try to get in the musical at the high school. That way I can brag to all my friends even more than I do now about how wonderful my children are.”

          Rey wondered how many friends Papa had and if any of them suspected what had happened to his real children. She had avoided looking at Ben throughout the entire dinner due to Papa’s outburst from before. Now she risked a glance and saw he was still eating his dinner with a subdued expression on his face. He would not look up at her.

          “I guess so,” Ben replied. “I’ll have to brush up on my singing.”

          Papa chuckled and wiped his mouth on a napkin. “Well, your sister can help you with that. She’s been singing like a bird since she was born.”

          This made Rey smile. She thought of the real Nina and wondered what sort of girl she was. Did she go to school with a smile on her face and a song on her lips, even though there was trouble at home? Or was she a quiet girl who was a surprise success on the stage and only on the stage? Rey’s heart went out to her and whatever her fate had been at Papa’s hands.

          Papa got up from the table, washed his plate and silverware off in the sink then placed all the dishes into the dishwasher. “Run this for me once you two are done, Nina. Papa’s gonna go do some night fishing with the boys. If all goes well, we may have fish again tomorrow night.”

          “Where you gonna fish at?” Rey heard herself ask. It was a surprise to her, as she generally didn’t ask questions like that to Papa. She wanted to know where they were though, and maybe she could figure that out based on the nearby lake.

          “Lake Starling,” he replied. There was no malice or suspicion in his voice when he told her. “We usually go up to Lake Warden but this time a year there’s so many folks rushing to that lake for swimming and fishing and whatnot. It’s a lot quieter up at Lake Starling.”

          Rey held onto those names in case she could use them later. _Lake Starling and Lake Warden… Lake Starling and Lake Warden… Lake Starling and Lake Warden…_

          Papa bid them goodnight cheerfully. Rey thought he had forgotten about the accusations from earlier until, at the foot of the stairs, he turned around suddenly with a dangerous look on his face.

          Pointing a finger at Ben, he said “You remember, leave your sister the fuck alone,” before turning and stalking back up the stairs.

          When he was gone, Rey felt as if she’d just been freed from a great vice. She pushed her plate away from her, her stomach too full of knots to continue eating. Ben pounded the table with his fist, making her jump suddenly at the noise.

          “That fucking bastard,” he growled through his teeth. Looking at him, Rey could see he was just barely keeping it together.

          She said nothing in response, instead rubbing her still sore shoulders. It wasn’t the first time Papa had hurt her, as she recalled the hair-tugging incident a few weeks prior. Still, tonight’s episode had left her shaken and now that he was gone, she no longer had to keep herself together. She felt like she was going to throw up.

          “Are you okay?” Ben asked, his tone gentle.

          Rey shook her head and didn’t look at him. “No, Ben. I’m not fucking okay.” She didn’t often use curse words and when she dropped the F bomb it wasn’t in a malicious way towards Ben. It was out of sheer frustration that this was her life now and there was nothing she could do about it.

          He got up from the table and walked over to stand beside her. “Can I see?” he asked her quietly, gesturing to her shoulder.

          Rey nodded and pulled down the shirt sleeve to show him. She looked as well and saw the red marks there. Ben swore again, and Rey covered them back up.

          “He didn’t have to hurt you,” he said, more to himself that to Rey. “He should’ve just taken it out on me.”

          “You don’t always have to be the punching bag,” she reminded him, her voice sounding tired and weak.

          She felt his hand on her arm. “Yes,” Ben told her firmly “I do.”

          Rey looked at him and when she saw the look in his eyes she began to tear up. He looked just as angry, just as hurt, and just as frustrated as she felt. There was such a concern in his expression too that it made her break. He wanted so much to protect her but couldn’t. He was helpless to stop it, they both were. Maybe it would be a better fate to be killed trying to escape than to live like this a minute longer.

          “I’m sorry,” Rey choked to him, though she wasn’t sure why.

          “Hey now, it’s gonna be okay,” Ben whispered, putting a hand on the side of her face. “We’re gonna make it out of this. I promised you, didn’t I?”

          She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. “Yeah, you did.”

          Ben smiled and it was the warmest smile she had ever experienced. It almost made the tears in her eyes fade away in an instant when she saw it. Almost.

          “I’ll keep my promise. We’re gonna be alright, Rey. Just hang in there.”

          She held onto that thought just as tightly as she had the first time she woke up in the cement room: _I’m going to be alright…I’m going to be alright…_


	5. Chapter 5

Rey tried to sleep but she couldn’t. Instead, she sat in the middle of the bed that was nearly too small for her. She had the desk lamp on and it illuminated her nightmarishly pink room. Next to her on the bed was a pile of Barbie dolls that she had found in a tub in the closet.

After dumping them out onto the bed, she picked up what looked like a figure skating Barbie. The doll’s synthetic hair was a complete mess and its painted on eyes and smile gave it a crazed look. Rey considered the doll for a few moments then picked up one of the tiny pink brushes that had fallen out with the dolls. With it, she began making an attempt to tame the blonde monstrosity.

          Her hands shook as she brushed. Rey sighed and closed her eyes when she noticed this. She’d dug the dolls out as a distraction—something to take her mind off what had happened before dinner. Clearly, it was not working. Her still aching shoulders weren’t helping with that either.

          It was hell and she wanted out. And despite her attempts to tell herself she was going to be fine, she was still far from it. She wanted to scream, to knock all the things off the shelf, to tear the stupid pink room apart. Or better yet, she wanted to break off one of the bed posts and beat Papa with it. Anything was better than living as a psychopath’s prisoner.

          Yet she sat there on the bed in her prison, brushing a Barbie doll’s hair quietly. Nothing made sense anymore. In fact, it looked like things would continue not making sense until she got out of there. Rey wondered if this was what it felt like in the early stages of going insane.

          Realizing that her brushing was closer to making the Barbie bald than fabulous, Rey growled in frustration and hurled the forever-smiling doll across the room. It hit the wall with a small thump and fell into the laundry basket. She thought about chucking more of them at the wall to see if that helped her mood but it seemed like something an insane person would do. Instead, she settled for just shoving the pile of Barbie dolls and their accessories off the bed and onto the floor.

          She laid back down, pulled the bed’s comforter over her body, and turned off the lamp. Even though she knew sleep would not be forthcoming anytime soon, she decided to try anyway. It was less of a crazy thing to do than chucking Barbie dolls, at least.

Thoughts of the real Nina and Kyle swirled through Rey’s mind and kept her awake. She wanted answers to her questions about them, about what had happened to them and why. Had they been involved romantically as Papa had implied? Did he kill them for it? Or maybe, in his own insanity, Papa thought they were and that was why he killed them.

It was also entirely possible that he hadn’t killed them at all. Maybe they had never even existed. After all, if two people had gone missing then wouldn’t Papa have been investigated for it? And if he had killed them, wouldn’t he have been caught? He seemed clever though so perhaps he was just very good at covering his tracks.

Rey remembered the locked door in the basement. Before, she had wanted nothing to do with it since it gave her the creeps. Now however, with so many unanswered questions she was starting to consider trying to get in there. Besides, with her leg still on the mend it wasn’t like she had much else to do.

Somehow, sleep finally did take her after an hour or two of lying awake and coming up with different ways to get the door unlocked. The dreams that swiftly followed were filled with dark rooms and monsters lurking within them. It seemed like she never dreamed about anything pleasant anymore.

After a particularly disturbing dream where one of the monsters had grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her into the room while she screamed for Ben, Rey jolted awake. Shaken and unsettled by the nightmare, she decided to remain awake.

She looked down at the jumble of Barbie dolls in a heap next to the bed. In her weary state, she realized just how like them she was. She had no control over where she lived, what she did, or even how she dressed. All that rested in the hands of the person who kept her. Her hideous pink room was like a dollhouse that she couldn’t escape from. Rey gave a short laugh and buried her face into the pillow. Now she was comparing herself to children’s toys—maybe she really was going insane.

There was a knock on her bedroom door. Rey felt her insides freeze at the sound. That was strange, neither Papa nor Ben ever came to see her while she was in her room. She wondered which one of them it was. Having a fifty percent chance of it being someone she did not want to see made her hesitate to respond.

“Rey? It’s me,” came Ben’s voice from the other side.

Rey felt her body relax. “Come in,” she called to him.

She sat up in bed as the door opened and Ben entered. His dark hair was a mess and he was still wearing his pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. He looked like he had just rolled out of his own bed and come straight to her room.

When he realized she was in bed, he gave her a sheepish look and backed up a bit. “Sorry, I thought you were out of bed.”

She glanced at her alarm clock. “It’s six-thirty,” she pointed out. “Did you really think I’d be out of bed this early?”

He looked down, still embarrassed. “I guess I didn’t really think it through. I can go back to my room.”

Rey yawned and stretched. “No, you’re fine. Here, come sit,” she added, gesturing to the foot of the bed.

Ben hesitated but eventually made his way over. He sat down slowly, timidly, as though he expected the bed to combust when he touched it. He was embarrassed by her being in bed—how sweet of him. It was times like these that Rey truly believed his kindness was real and not just an act to get close to her.

“So what’s the reason for your super-early visit to my quarters?” she asked him through another yawn.

          When he looked up at her, his expression was confused. “I heard you calling for me.”

          “Huh?”

          “You did. You called out for me and it sounded urgent.”

          It dawned on her then that she must have actually cried out in her sleep, not just in the dream. Rey’s face felt like it was on fire. This was not a conversation she wanted to have this early in the morning.

          Ben seemed to have picked up on what had really happened. “Nightmare?” he guessed.

          She nodded. “Every night since I was first brought here.”

          “Me too,” he told her. “Mine are mostly about my family—about failed escape plans—sometimes they’re even about me getting killed by Papa.”

          Rey rubbed at her still sleep-heavy eyes. “I feel like I’m going insane,” she confided. “Am I going insane?”

          Ben glanced down. “Well, there is a large pile of Barbies next to your bed. Are they to ward off bad dreams or something?”

          “No, I—I was trying to brush their hair,” she explained. Realizing how dumb that sounded, she added “I needed a distraction after last night. I couldn’t sleep.”

          She watched as he reached down with one long arm and picked up a doll at random. It was a scuba-diver Barbie with frizzy brown hair. Ben turned it over in his hand. Then he smiled.

          “My little sister Jane has a ton of these,” he mused. “She would make me and my brother Jaden play with her all the time when she was younger. If you want a distraction, I will tell you that I am a fantastic story-teller when it comes to playing with Barbies.”

          Grinning, Rey pushed the covers off her legs and climbed out of bed. She began to put the Barbie dolls back into their tub. “Okay, deal. Let’s bring them into the living room then.”

          Still in their pajamas, Ben and Rey spent the next hour setting up their “Barbie Town.” Ben had grabbed some action figures and Kleenex boxes from his room to be part of their creation. They had Barbie shops, homes, and a spa that Ben claimed would be a front for the devious drug deals that made up Barbie Town’s seedy underbelly.

          It wasn’t long before Rey was laughing until her stomach hurt. Not only was it completely absurd that they were two grown adults playing with dolls but Rey found that she was actually having fun. The fact that Ben really got into his characters with voices and bizarre storylines was what made it that way. Several times she had to tell him to stop just so she had a chance to breathe and wipe her tears away.

          “Where did you get your crazy sense of humor from?” she gasped after a particularly amusing exchange between a sex addict Barbie and her highly religious husband.

          Ben shrugged as he began to rummage through the tub for some more doll clothes. “My parents always let me watch weird movies with them when I was little,” he explained. He pulled out a pink, frilly dress, made a face at it then tossed it back into the tub. “They always had dry or dark humor in them. Guess I developed a liking for it.”

          Rey was braiding the long dark hair of her school teacher Barbie who had a dark secret of being an assassin on the side. “Did you guys watch movies as a family?”

          “Yes, it was a weekly thing. Mom and dad would pick out the movie then me, Jaden, and Amy would watch it with them. Sometimes our uncle Luke would join us too, and Jane when she came along. We never got any say in what we watched but it was fun, you know? Plus it was one of the few times that mom and dad didn’t fight.”

          “I remember going to see movies at the theater with mom,” said Rey. “It wasn’t very often so it was always super exciting for me whenever we went. Those are probably some of my favorite memories with her.”

          Ben had stopped rummaging to look at her while she reminisced. The smile he gave her was a sad one. “You miss her, don’t you?”

          Rey took a deep breath. “Yeah, I do. And not just because I’ve been trapped here—I missed her before this too. It’s been almost fourteen years since she lost custody of me and I was placed with my aunt and uncle. I was really excited to see her again.”

She thought of Papa and how his kidnapping of her had ruined that happy reunion between mother and daughter. It angered her and she had to resist the urge to hurl the Barbie in her hands against a wall as she had the night before.

“You’ll get to see her again,” Ben assured her confidently. He had selected a sleek black dress and was now attempting to put it on his Ken doll.

Watching him made Rey forget her anger and her laughter returned. “What are you doing?” she asked through laughs as she watched his struggle.

“Spicing up the storyline a little.”

“It’s not going to fit him—Ken’s pecs are too big for Barbie’s tiny dresses.”

“Come on, you just have to believe in him.”

It quickly became evident that believing the dress into fitting and not tearing wasn’t going to work. Grumbling at his foiled idea, Ben was forced to settle for making his own dress out of a Kleenex and a rubber band.

They played until Rey felt her stomach growl. Putting the game on hold, Ben offered to make pancakes for the two of them. It had been forever since Rey had eaten pancakes and she could feel her mouth practically water at the thought.

“At least he leaves us some food for the day,” Ben remarked as he looked through the sparse selection in the pantry. He selected a box of cornbread and set it next to the small stovetop. “You ever had cornbread pancakes before?”

“Can’t say that I have.”

“Oh man, you haven’t lived until you’ve had cornbread pancakes. Let’s just hope I can do them justice for you given our limited resources.”

Rey made some over easy eggs and spooned them onto two chipped china plates while Ben cursed over the pancakes. She squeezed his arm and assured him that the pancakes looked and smelled great. It wasn’t just to make him feel better either, she truly thought that they looked delicious.

“I hope so,” said Ben, wincing as he struggled to get the final pancake out of the pan and onto the plate. It was a little too dark on one side and he sighed heavily at the sight. “And here I thought my first time cooking for a lady in two years would be better than burnt pancakes.”

She waved him off. “Ben, we’re being held captive by a psycho in his basement. I think one or two burnt pancakes are the least of our worries.”

Though a little bitter from the darkened parts, Rey found that cornbread pancakes really were delicious. While she wolfed hers down, Ben told her about how one of his former girlfriends would not eat pancakes at all.

“Did she get enough love as a child?” Rey asked him through a mouthful of egg and pancakes.

Ben gave her an overly exaggerated disapproving look. “Watch your table manners, young lady,” he chided in what sounded like a rich old lady voice, wagging a finger at her. He then continued in his regular voice. “She said that the government put chemicals into pancake mix that scrambled our brains and made us more likely to submit to the will of the man.”

Rey nearly choked on her food when she heard that. “You dated a girl with a conspiracy theory about pancakes?”

“Yes, I did.”

“For how long?”

“I’d say about two months, maybe three.”

“Damn. You sure know how to pick ‘em, don’t you?”

“I most certainly do.”

After cleaning up breakfast, Ben let Rey have the first shower while he retreated to his room to do some drawing. While in the shower, she noticed the shampoo was running out and her spirits sank. She would have to tell Papa that they needed more shampoo and who knew how that was going to go. With her luck, he would slap her across the face for wanting to make herself pretty for her brother or something.

Ben’s smile flashed through her mind then. The tenderness of it combined with the intensity of his eyes gave her a warm feeling in her chest. At least no matter what happened to her down there, she had a friend to confide it. Ben had proven himself to be a good one so far. She just hoped it would last.

When she was done in the shower, she brushed her teeth and called to Ben so that he could have his turn. While he was in there, Rey decided to visit the padlocked door once again. She hobbled over to it, only having to use one crutch now since her leg was almost fully healed.

Rey stopped in front of the ominous door and stared at it for a few moments. She reached out, grabbed the padlock, and tried to yank it off. She was unsurprised when this did nothing. Since it was an older door, the handle had a keyhole beneath it. Rey bent down and tried to peer through the hole but was met with only darkness on the other side. Perhaps she could see something if they located a flashlight and shone it through.

She stood up straight and glared at the door, as though this would bust it down and reveal the secrets on the other side. It was also entirely possible that there was nothing of interest in there. After all, why would Papa keep anything incriminating within their reach?

When she had finished a brief search of the rest of the basement for any other possible clues or hidden doors, Rey made her way back into the living room. She sat herself amongst the residents of Barbie Town and rearranged the displays in the clothing shop until Ben got out of the shower.

“We’re almost out of shampoo,” he commented as he joined her once again. “Want me to tell him?”

Rey shrugged. “I can. I think he likes me more so it might go over better if he hears it from me.”

Ben smirked and rested his head on his hand. “What are we doing here, Rey?”

“I don’t know, I think we left off with Ed Sanders about to have a salami duel in the supermarket with Peter Steffens.”

“No, not the Barbie storyline. I mean here, in this basement at this very moment. Why did we have to get taken?”

She looked up at him and saw the thoughtful look on his face. “What’s with the sudden existentialism?”

“I don’t know, I was thinking about it in the shower.” He grimaced. “Eh, that’s not too weird, is it?”

Rey tapped her chin and pretended to think about it. “No, I’d have to say the shower is the best place to have an existential crisis if it’s gonna happen.”

He smiled at her comment then rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand. “I dunno, it’s just weird to me. We’re two people from two different cities living two different lives. And we just happened to be thrown together into this terrifying and strange situation. Why us?”

“Because we happen to look like his children,” she replied heavily. “Hate to break it to you but us being here is nothing more than unlucky genetics.”

Ben fell silent after that. At one point she saw him turn and his lips part as though he were going to say something. Then he smiled, shook his head and picked up the Ken doll. “Okay, so back to the salami duel…”

When they eventually got bored with the Barbies, Rey and Ben cleaned up their Barbie Town and put the tub back in the closet. At Rey’s suggestion, they put an old workout DVD in and cleared some space in the living room.

“If I can’t jog or go to the gym, I at least want to get some exercise,” Rey explained as she stretched her arms. Her leg was protesting against the workout already but she decided to push through it.

Ben scrunched up his nose at that. “Jogging? Exercise? _Gyms_? I thought this horror story stopped at being trapped in a basement.”

Rey rolled her eyes. “Oh please, I’ve seen your muscles. You are not someone who’s a stranger to the gym.”

“How do you know these aren’t from lifting heavy boxes at the grocery store?” When Rey gave him a skeptical look, he chuckled. “Okay, you got me. I did go to the gym but I was considering this little incident as a— _ah_ —vacation.”

He quieted when the video started and did the workout with her. Rey snuck glances at him during it and was pleased to see that he was focused on doing the motions. She turned back to the TV, smiling. Finn would often accompany her to the gym—it was nice to have a partner to work out with again.

“Enjoying the workout that much?” Ben panted to her. He must have seen her smiling.

“Nah, just glad I have someone to work out with.”

They were just about to start the second video on the tape when they heard footsteps upstairs. Both froze where they stood and looked at one another in a mixture of confusion and apprehension.

“Is it him?” Rey whispered.

Ben glared up at the ceiling, his body tense as it always was whenever Papa was there. “He’s early,” he grunted to her.

She closed her eyes as the anxiety bubbled up in her stomach. What would happen this time, she wondered. Would he see them both covered in sweat from the work out video and think they were doing something compromising again? Or maybe there was something else that would set him off, like the dirty dishes in the sink.

“It’s okay,” Ben murmured to her as the locks on the basement door began to turn. “I won’t let him hurt you, I promise.”

The two of them watched as the door opened and Papa descended the stairs, carrying something long and white in his arms. When he got to the bottom and approached them, Rey realized that it was a dress bag. Setting it down on the couch, Papa turned and held out his arms to Rey.

“Come here, sweetheart,” he beckoned, a smile on his face.

Rey had no choice but to slowly walk into his embrace. He hugged her tightly and she felt her back stiffen at his touch. She closed her eyes and begged silently for it to be over soon. Fortunately, he did release her quickly. He then moved on to Ben, who looked like he wanted to tear the man in half for even daring to come near him.

After hugging them, Papa stepped back and placed both his hands on their shoulders. “Look at my kiddos,” he said, looking from Rey to Ben proudly. “I know I don’t tell you this often, but I am seriously proud of you both. I’m the luckiest father in the world.”

Rey was astounded. Just last night he was malignant in his accusations of her and Ben. Now, he acted like the two of them had just placed gold in the Olympics. His weathered face beamed with pride, his grey eyes shone and there were crinkles next to them.

“I have a surprise for you, Nina,” he told Rey. Taking her by the hand, he led her over to the white bag that was laying on the couch.

“What is it?” Rey asked, trying to sound curious despite the feeling of dread she got from looking down at it.

Papa released her hand and instead placed it on the center of her back. “It’s your mother’s wedding dress,” he explained, his voice laden with emotion. “I found it while I was going through some old things. Why don’t you try it on?”

Rey swallowed, her stomach a pit of ice. “Oh no I—I couldn’t. Not mom’s dress—I don’t want to get it dirty.”

“No, try it on,” Papa insisted, picking the bag up and placing it into Rey’s unwilling arms. “I know how much you loved trying on her dresses when you were little. Come on now, let’s see how it looks on you.”

She looked over her shoulder at Ben. His expression was unreadable and he said nothing. Rey knew that there was little he could do to back her up. If he argued, Papa might snap and lash out at him. If he encouraged her to try it on, Papa’s suspicions about his feelings towards her could return in full force. Besides, it was just a dress. Even though it was an awkward thing for her to do, it wouldn’t hurt her.

So Rey took the dress with her into the bedroom and shut the door. She was shaking as she unzipped the bag. This was wrong. It was her first time trying on a wedding dress and everyone she had wanted to be there for this moment was absent. Rose, Finn, her aunt, even her mother. Whenever she thought about shopping for wedding dresses, they were all there with her.

She felt like an automaton as she put on the dress. Her body was unzipping it and stepping into it on its own. Reaching behind her, she pulled the zipper to close up the back. It was then that Rey ventured over to the mirror to look. She felt her jaw drop in surprise. The dress was gorgeous and it looked wonderful on her. It pulled in perfectly at the waist and then branched out like a princess’s dress. There were beads and gems embroidered on it in beautiful patterns and the sleeves had the most elegant lace.

Rey felt her eyes burn. This was a big moment for her and it was going to be wasted. A psychopath and a young man with whom she had only just formed a friendship with—that was her audience. Besides, she had no idea what her future was going to be like now. It may be the only time she ever got to wear a wedding dress.

She imagined Papa beside her in the mirror, holding his gun to her head. He smiled at her in the reflection, said “Happy wedding day, sweetheart” and pulled the trigger. Rey gave a small sob as emotion took hold of her in that moment. Once again, Papa had managed to ruin something for her that was meant to be a happy thing.

She was reminded of how powerless she was, how bleak things looked for her being trapped down there. Trying on the wedding dress had put it into perspective for her. With Ben’s help, she had been adjusting to this new life but the pain and heartache were still there. And until they were free, if they ever got free, they would continue to haunt her. Rey was strong but she had to let herself cry. She had been holding it in for too long.

“Nina, are you done?” came Papa’s coaxing voice from outside the bedroom. “Don’t be shy, sweetie, let’s have a look at you.”

Rey took several deep breaths to calm her crying fit. Grabbing a Kleenex from the box she blew her nose and hastily dried her eyes the best she could. When she was done cleaning herself up, she looked in the mirror. Her eyes were red and her face was pale. She looked tired and almost sickly. Even with the dress on, she was far from bride material. Still, as she looked at herself wearing it she decided to make a promise.

“I will get out of here,” she whispered to her reflection. She stood up straight and smiled at the girl in the mirror wearing the beautiful wedding gown. “I promise I will escape, and I will have a real wedding someday.”

As she prepared to go out and face Papa in the dress, Rey wondered who would be waiting for her at the end of the aisle when she finally got married. When she was younger, she used to imagine that it would be Finn there, wearing a tuxedo with a rose tucked into the pocket and smiling lovingly at her. Since that was no longer an option, she supposed that she would just have to find someone else to be waiting there for her.

Rey ventured out of the room, feeling nervous but clinging for dear life to that determination she had found within herself earlier. When Papa saw her, he seemed to be so overcome that he didn’t speak for several moments. He moved forward slowly and took her hands into his, leading her into the center of the living room then standing back to look at her once more. He produced a tiara with a veil attached and put it on her head to complete the ensemble.

“You look just like your mother,” he said finally. “I wish she could see her little girl now.”

“Thank you,” was all Rey could say. Then she added “It’s a beautiful dress, Papa. Thank you for letting me try it on.”

She watched apprehensively as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a polaroid camera. Rey almost objected to the picture but she stopped herself. If Papa took the pictures to a store and got them developed, the developer would see her in the picture and possibly recognize her as a missing person. So she smiled and allowed him to take a picture of her in the wedding dress.

Ben had been silent up to the point, and Rey risked looking at him. The look on his face took her aback for a moment. He was staring at her but there was no intensity in his gaze. Instead, he looked at her like she was the most magnificent thing he had ever seen. Rey wasn’t sure how she could tell—there was something in the way his eyes had widened slightly, his expression softened, and his lips had parted just a little bit. He had certainly never looked at her that way before.

“How do I look, Kyle?” Rey asked him, turning in a circle in the dress.

“You look beautiful,” he replied automatically. Then his awed expression was gone and he added swiftly “I’m gonna go read in my room. Is that alright, Papa?”

The older man was too overcome with Rey wearing the dress that he seemed to barely hear Ben’s words. “Yes, that’s fine. Dinner is in a couple hours but I have to run to the store before starting it. Nina, how about you go change back. You can help me prepare dinner tonight since Kyle helped last night.”

As he went to the kitchen to search the pantry and fridge, Rey began to head back to her room. She paused at the door and looked over at Ben, who had also stopped to look at her. They said nothing, just locked eyes for a few moments. It was then that a sudden vision came to Rey’s mind. She wasn’t sure what brought it on, but it was there and gone within a matter of seconds.

She saw Ben there, standing at the end of the aisle as she walked down in the wedding dress. He had the same look on his face that he had had earlier in the living room. He smiled as she approached and extended a hand towards her. His mouth opened and he repeated his words from earlier:

_“You look beautiful.”_

After that, the image faded. She and Ben were still there, prisoners in a basement, him in an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt and she in a dead stranger’s wedding dress. Rey turned away. Without a word to him, she slipped into her room and shut the door behind her.


	6. Chapter 6

        

          After the dinner dishes were done, Rey excused herself and escaped into her room as quickly as possible. The wedding dress incident had shaken her and she wanted to be alone. As soon as she heard Papa’s footsteps on the floor above, she picked up the wedding dress in its bag and shoved it as far back into her closet as it would go. She was eager to forget it and move on.

          It would be easier to do that if the image of Ben’s face when he saw her in the dress weren’t burned into her mind. Up to that point her feelings towards him had been warm and friendly, not crossing into that dangerous territory she had tried so hard to avoid. It could ruin their friendship completely. That’s why the unbidden image of marrying him bothered her. Why would she think of something as childish as that?

          Rey wondered if maybe she was just lonely. After all, it had been weeks since her kidnapping, and months before that since she’d been with anyone. Ben was the only one she saw on a regular basis now, so it was only natural that she would be drawn to him.

          _That’s not me though,_ she chastised herself. _I’m better than this. Besides, now is not the time to get hung up over a guy._

          It was true, an incident of kidnapping and being held against your will had no place for budding romance. She and Ben had to escape, they had to get out of there. Feelings like that were a distraction and would only hold them back from their goal. Still, it remained on her mind until with a frustrated growl she grabbed her diary from its hiding spot beneath the mattress.

          Whenever she had a decision or problem, Rey found it helpful to write it out. Underneath, she would write possible answers or solutions to what was troubling her. Now, she wrote the most prominent thought on her mind:

**Do I like Ben?**

          Beneath it she wrote three choices: **Yes, No,** and **Maybe**. She then chewed on the end of the pen as she considered each option. It was such a middle-school thing to do, she knew that. Perhaps it was the room around her that was making her act in such a way. After all, there were butterflies on her ceiling, hearts on the small bed frame, and dolls lining the shelves with their glass eyes staring down at her accusingly.

          “Don’t judge me,” Rey grumbled to them. Great, now she was talking to inanimate objects. Perhaps she was beginning to enter stage two of insanity.

          Going back to the insanity at hand, Rey clicked the pen and drew an X over the word **No** on the page. She definitely felt something for Ben, there was no denying that. That left her with two choices: **Yes** and **Maybe**.

          She couldn’t say for sure that she liked him. Yes, she found the possibility of them having a romantic encounter to be exciting. However, if loneliness was the primary source of that thought then it didn’t mean her feelings were genuine. That was just her human side nudging her towards what was there. Rey put an X over the word **Yes**.

          That left her with the **Maybe** option, and that’s where Rey decided to keep it for now. She would sort out her feelings for Ben later when they were safely away from Papa and things had the potential to venture into that territory. For now, escape would have to come first. Even though she was still not satisfied with that answer, Rey snapped the diary shut and stowed it away under her mattress once again.

*   *   *

          The next day, she tried to carry on normally with Ben but was finding that to be easier said than done. Every time he turned his dark eyes on her or smiled she would feel as though those butterflies from her bedroom ceiling had snuck into her stomach for a party. And when Rey was anxious or nervous about something she tended to withdraw or shut down from whatever it was causing her to feel that way. In this case, it was Ben she was pulling away from.

          Despite her efforts to hide her discomfort, he still noticed. As they sat down on the couch for their daily drawing lesson, he did not open his sketchbook but instead looked at her expectantly. He didn’t say anything at first so Rey tried to ignore him by starting to sketch her hand.

          _Talk to him,_ her traitorous mind urged. _Talk to him and face the problem head on instead of bottling it up._

          Rey finally put her hand and her pencil down. Taking a deep breath she turned to him and asked “What’s wrong?”

          Ben raised an eyebrow at her. “Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing.”

          “I’m alright,” she lied.

          “No, you’re not. Every time I say something to you, you look like you’re either gonna vomit or run out of the room.”

          Rey swallowed but said nothing in reply. She was chickening out on this conversation, as usual. Rose had always told her she was hopeless when it came to talking about her feelings.

          “It’s about the wedding dress, isn’t it?” Ben went on. “You want to know what was on my mind when I saw you in it.”

          She gripped her pencil in her hand. Well, this was it. Whether she wanted it or not, they were having this conversation. And yes, it was best to talk about it, to get it out in the open so that things wouldn’t be weird. That didn’t mean Rey was ready to hear what he had to say about it.

          “I’ll be honest,” he continued “I thought you were stunning—you were beautiful.”

          Rey’s face felt like it was on fire. She didn’t blush easily but to hear such an honest and straightforward compliment had thrown her off. “Really?” was all she could manage in reply.

          Ben nodded. “I’d be an idiot if I didn’t notice it when Papa first brought you here. You’re an attractive person. However, this isn’t the right place for me to think or feel those things. That’s why I’ve never said or done anything to you that could lead to more.

          “We’re prisoners, Rey. Two people being held captive by a volatile monster. Romance doesn’t belong here in this basement with us. The only thing we need to concern ourselves with is making it out of here alive. If I had met you on the street then yeah, I would have asked for your number straight away. But here and now, all we can be is friends and allies. You understand that, right?”

          His words filled her with such relief that she nearly threw her arms around him in gratitude. He felt the same way she did but was just as hesitant as she was to act on it. Ben knew what had to be done and was determined to see it through, no matter what he felt.

          “I understand completely,” she said eagerly. “I just—I was so nervous that what we have right now would be ruined if we took it any further.”

          He smiled at her. “When we get out of here—we’ll see what happens. For now though, escaping is our number one priority.”

          Ben reached over and embraced her gently. Rey sank into the embrace, holding on to him tightly. It had been so long since anyone had hugged her that it felt nice. Ben’s arms were strong and his body was warm. She felt so safe in that hug, that nothing bad could ever possibly happen to her as long as he was there.

          “Seeing you in that dress made me forget,” Ben murmured to her as he continued to hold her. “I forgot I was a captive and that I could die at any time. You made me forget my fears. I let my guard down and I confused you—I’m sorry.”

          They parted and Rey shook her head. “It was bound to happen. Let’s just agree to stay friends for now and figure this out together.”

          The drawing lesson resumed and Rey began work on trying to draw a landscape like Ben’s. She kept sneaking glances over at him to see if he was looking at her. He was twisting his pencil in his hand and looking away from her at something. Sometimes he would bite his lip or tap his foot. She got the impression that he was feeling restless.

          Before she could ask, he turned to her very suddenly and quickly. “I think I have an idea about how to get into that closet,” he told her, his tone excited. “Here, put the drawing on pause and follow me.”

          Curious, Rey followed him through the basement over to the locked wooden door. Ben made a triumphant noise as they approached.

          “I was right,” he said gleefully. “The hinges are on the outside of it.”

          She frowned, confused by what he meant. “That’s a good thing?”

          Ben took her by the hand and led her over to it. He pointed up at the top hinge. “My dad used to work on houses when I was a kid,” he explained. “He taught me how to repair, assemble, and disassemble all sorts of things. With the proper tools, I could take these hinges off.”

          Rey felt her heart beat with excitement in her chest. “You can take the door off and put it back on without Papa ever knowing we got in there.”

          His grin widened. “Exactly. We can finally see what that bastard is trying to keep from us in here.”

          Still holding her hand, Ben led her over into the unfinished part of the basement. Releasing her, he instructed her to look for certain tools that he would need to remove the hinges. To do it, he needed a hammer, a flat blade screwdriver, and a pry bar. After a few minutes of poking around, they found a tool box with all three in it.

          “That’s lucky,” Rey commented as they took the tools over to the door. “You would think he would be more careful leaving this stuff around.”

          “I’m guessing he didn’t think we’d try anything like this,” Ben replied. “Here, can you be the look out by the stairs? He doesn’t usually come back this early but you never know.”

          Rey sat on the stairs with her sketchpad while Ben worked on the door. She was excited but also nervous to finally see what was inside the closet. It was entirely possible that there was nothing in there and all their efforts would be wasted. However, if there really was nothing to see then why had Papa hurt Ben for trying to get in there?

          As soon as she heard a loud thud and Ben’s noise of triumph, Rey set her sketch book aside and headed over to check on his progress. When she got there, she saw that he had successfully taken the door off its hinges and set it up against the wall. She joined him in examining what was inside.

          Ben pulled out a box of what appeared to be old newspapers while Rey grabbed a photo album and began to flip through it. There were baby pictures in it, a boy and a girl, along with a very beautiful dark-haired woman and a much younger-looking Papa.

          “It’s them,” Rey whispered as she examined the pictures. Her fingers brushed over a toddler picture of the little girl. “Nina.”

          She heard her friend inhale sharply. “Rey—Rey look at this.” He stood and laid a yellowed newspaper down over the album page she was on. “Read the article on the front page.”

          As she did, her throat felt dry. The article told of two teenagers—Kyle and Nina Davers—who committed suicide ten years ago. Kyle had been sixteen and Nina had been only thirteen. According to the newspaper, their shoes were found on a ledge overlooking a ravine about ten miles north of their home. Blood and hair samples found on the rocks below were confirmed to be from the siblings.

The bodies were thought to have been carried downstream by the river rapids in the ravine, but were not recovered. They did, however, find a shirt and a pair of jeans in one of the lakes the river fed into. An acquaintance of the family confirmed them as belonging to Nina.

Rey put a hand over her mouth. “They killed themselves,” she said quietly.

“Seems like it,” he replied. “Papa must have been destroyed by what happened. I’ll bet he mistreated them enough that they just couldn’t take it anymore. Maybe that’s why he took us—he felt guilty.”

He took the newspaper back to read through the rest of it while Rey resumed going through the photo album. Her hands shook as she did. Looking at the happy family, knowing what was to happen to them in the end—it was horribly sad. When she got to the pictures where Nina and Kyle looked like they were in middle school, the woman stopped appearing with them. Her heart clenched painfully. That must have been when she died.

The pictures were few after that, and only of Nina and Kyle. Neither child’s smile was as big as it had been in their younger years. She could see the sadness in their eyes, even in the photos. Rey understood that sadness. After all, she too had to grow up without her mother.

She turned a page and suddenly some of the pictures were of them when they were much older, like in their twenties. That was strange—hadn’t they died in their early teens? Something was off about the pictures too that Rey couldn’t pinpoint at first. Neither Nina nor Kyle were smiling in any of them. Confused, she continued to look through them until she realized what was wrong. When she did, the album slid from her fingers and hit the floor with a thud.

Ben looked up from the newspaper at the noise. When he saw Rey’s expression, he frowned. “What is it?”

Rey’s legs felt weak. She sank onto the cement floor, staring at the overturned album before her. Slowly, she reached a shaky hand out towards it and flipped it over. “Look,” she told him.

He reached over and picked up the album. As he flipped through the pages, his frowned deepened. “All I see are pictures of the real Nina and Kyle. We’ve seen those before.”

She shook her head. “No, look at the pictures of them when they’re older. Look at them closely.”

Ben did. He was silent for a few moments. Then, suddenly, he looked up at her sharply. His face was pale. “It’s not them. They’re different—they’re all different.”

Rey nodded, that sickly and frightened feeling returning to her stomach. “We’re not the first Nina and Kyle replacements he’s brought down here.”

Tossing the album away from him, Ben leaned back against the basement wall. “Shit,” he cursed. “Goddamn—fuck.”

She stumbled over and picked up the album once more, looking through the pictures of all the previous Ninas and Kyles. The first was a girl who looked no older than fifteen and a boy who looked around eighteen. She’d noticed the difference because the real Nina’s nose was small, whereas the new one’s was slightly larger and a different shape. Also, the real Kyle’s eyes were dark and his first replacement had light-colored eyes.

How many had there been? Rey was flipping through and counting. Seven—there had been seven Kyles and seven Ninas. She looked at each face, each pair of frightened eyes. All of them had been in the same situation she and Ben were in now, maybe not even informed of how and why they were there. How had their stories ended?

“He killed the others,” Ben murmured after a while. “He must have. Where else could they have gone?”

She shrugged and turned the page. When she saw what was on it, her hands gripped the photo album tightly. It was a photo of the first replacement Nina wearing the wedding gown. Turning the page, there were more photos of the other ones wearing it. All seven Ninas had been photographed wearing that dress. And where the photos ended, there was a blank page waiting for one more…

Rey put a hand over her mouth. She felt like she was going to throw up. “We have to go. Ben, we have to get out of here.” She stood, ignoring the pain she still felt in her nearly healed leg. Her eyes darted around the basement, trying to find some way they could get out. No way out—there was no way out. They were going to die down there, just as all the other replacements had.

“Rey?” she heard Ben say, but she ignored him. Her mind was racing and all she could hear was a ringing in her ears. All the other Ninas had worn that gown before he killed them. She had worn that gown too. Was she going to be just another photo for yet another Nina after her to find?

Panicked by the thought, she bolted for the stairs. The door—it was the only way out. Rey practically crawled on all fours in her effort to climb up to it. When she got to the top, she clawed desperately at the smooth, metal door. There was no handle, only a lock that was impossible to do anything with unless you had the key. She tried to stick her fingers into the crack and pry the door open. When this didn’t work, her panic increased and she began to pound on the door.

“Let us go!” she screamed as she banged her hands against the solid metal door. “Please, let us out!”

She felt Ben’s arms go around her suddenly and it made her thrash, trying to free herself from him. He was saying something to her but she was still struggling and crying out for her freedom. Ben pulled her away from the door and back down the stairs.

When they got to the bottom, he held onto her until her struggling slowed and then stopped. She was crying now. It was out of terror, frustration, and sadness over the possibility of never seeing her family and friends again. She didn’t want to die down there, not like this—not without them knowing where she was and what had happened to her. The weeks of keeping it all pent up inside her came pouring out now thanks to the sudden bout of panic.

“I want to go home,” she sobbed into Ben’s shoulder. She didn’t care how child-like she was being. It was the truth and she was sick of keeping it inside. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”

Ben rubbed her back and spoke gently to her. “Me too. We’ll get out of here alive—I promised you we would, didn’t I?”

Half of her face was pressed into Ben, but one of her eyes stared up at the door at the top of the stairs. It was a door with no way of being opened from their side. His words were nice but it would take more than that to convince her it was possible.

“What if I distracted him while you escaped through the door?” she suggested. “I could pretend like I’m sick or faint or something. While his attention is on me, you could run upstairs and go get help.”

“No,” said Ben firmly. “I’m not leaving you here with him. Besides, if one of us got out then who knows what he would do to the one remaining?”

There was silence for a few moments. Then Rey suggested “What if we kill him first?”

Ben pulled away to look down at her in surprise. “Are you serious?”

“Of course I am. It’s either gonna be us or him, Ben. You know that’s true.”

          “It’s risky,” he admitted. “Our plan would have to be air tight, otherwise it’ll be us getting killed.”

          “I don’t know,” Rey said wearily. “I just want to do something instead of waiting down here for him to kill us like the others.”

          Ben helped her to her feet. “I’ll tell you what—let me put this door back on then we’ll sit down and share ideas. Sound good to you?”

          Rey nodded. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down since her heart was still racing from her episode of panic. Ben squeezed her shoulder gently before leaving her at the stairs and going back over to close up the closet once again.

          With nothing else to do, Rey sat down on the bottom step. She locked her hands behind her knees and stared straight ahead. She was going crazy. That had to be it. It would explain why she wasn’t acting like herself. And if she was going crazy then it was going to impair her judgement. If she wanted to make it out of this alive, she had to keep calm and think rationally. Right now though, that wasn’t looking possible.

          After only fifteen minutes had passed, Rey heard footsteps upstairs heading for the door. She felt her heart drop to her stomach. Papa had come back early again and there was no way Ben had finished putting the door back. Panicking once more, she ran over to check. Sure enough, he was still putting on the bottom hinge of the door.

          “Ben,” she whispered urgently “he’s back.”

          “Shit,” Ben cursed, looking back at her briefly before trying to speed up his work.

          “I’ll distract him,” Rey offered, trying to be more confident than afraid. She had to be, otherwise Papa would get suspicious that something was awry.

          Ben didn’t reply, instead continuing his work on the door. Determined to protect him from Papa’s wrath, Rey darted back to the foot of the stairs just as Papa opened the door.

          “Papa, come quick!” she begged. Thankfully, the panic was making her acting more authentic. “I think I saw a mouse in my bedroom.”

          “A mouse?” Papa repeated in confusion. “There aren’t any mice in this house.”

          “I saw one though,” Rey insisted. She had managed to make her eyes water to add to her terror and urgency. “Please, come kill it for me.”

          The older man sighed heavily but followed her down the stairs to her bedroom. He didn’t even glance Ben’s way as he passed. When he entered the room, he immediately got down on his hands and knees and checked beneath the bed. Rey watched and a sudden thought came to her. His back was to her and he was vulnerable. What if she struck him with one of her glass dolls and ran up the stairs? She could call for Ben to come with her and they would be able to go find help.

          She found herself reaching up to the shelf and selecting a particularly large doll in a red dress. Heart pounding and blood boiling, Rey slowly approached Papa on the floor. Would it take one blow or two? She had never tried to knock someone out before. Maybe just one…

          Rey lowered the doll. No, that wasn’t fair to Ben. They were going to figure their escape out together. If she did it this way, it could fail. And if it failed, not only could she be killed but Ben might be too. Even though it pained her, she decided to wait. Reluctantly, she set the doll down on her dresser.

          Papa looked up at her from his spot on the floor. “Are you sure it went under the bed, sweetie? I don’t see anything moving down here.”

          “Maybe it moved to a different spot,” she suggested weakly. “I don’t know, all I saw is a little brown thing run across the floor and go underneath there.”

          “Well, I’ll check the closet and everything. If you’re still scared then you can sleep on the couch tonight.”

          She waited anxiously while he checked, hoping to stall long enough for Ben to finish his project. She wondered what Papa might do to him if he found him over there with the tools. Ben said he had beat him last time for trying to get in—would this time be worse?

          “No mouse in here,” Papa said after looking beneath her dresser. Turning to her with a smile, he put his hands on her shoulders. “Looks like you’re imagining things. I’m always telling everyone how you have such an overactive imagination. You’d make a great author one day.”

          “You think so?” Rey ventured. She wanted to keep the conversation going as long as possible.

          “Sure, you can do anything you set your mind to.” He turned to go but Rey grabbed his arm.

          “So…you’re _sure_ the mouse is gone then?” she asked.

          He frowned at her. “You’ve never been this scared of mice before. What’s going on, Nina?” he demanded, his tone turning into the one she was always frightened to hear. “What are you trying to keep me from seeing?”

          “Nothing,” Rey lied, although her act was beginning to falter.

          Papa glared at her. He put his hand around her, grabbing her by the back of the neck. Then he steered her towards the door.

          “Don’t lie to me, girl,” he hissed as they left the room and headed straight for where Ben had been working diligently on the door. “I know you and your brother are up to something.”

          Rey’s heart was pounding hard in her chest. She winced in pain from Papa’s hold on her but did not struggle. It would only make it worse if she did. As much as she wanted to fight him, Rey let him hurt her and steer her towards the place where she dreaded Ben would still be.

Fortunately, when they reached the closet door it was untouched and Ben was nowhere in sight. Rey felt relief fill her when she realized they would not be caught finding out Papa’s secrets. Still, that didn’t mean they were out of the woods yet.

“Kyle!” Papa bellowed into the unfinished part of the basement.

The bedroom door opened and Ben came out of his room. There was a pair of headphones around his neck. He looked from Rey to Papa in surprise. “What’s going on?” he asked. Luckily his acting was far better than Rey’s had been in her shaken state.

“Nina said there was a mouse in her bedroom,” the older man explained in a low voice. “Why didn’t you help get rid of it?”

Ben shrugged, feigning indifference. “She didn’t ask me.”

“I did too!” Rey argued, going along with the act. “I knocked on your door but you didn’t answer. Probably had your music up way too high again.”

“Whatever,” said Ben, rolling his eyes at her. “Papa’s way better at getting rid of mice than I am anyway.”

Rey felt Papa’s grip on her loosen. He seemed satisfied that she wasn’t hiding anything. “Alright, break it up you two,” he muttered. “Sorry for suspecting you, sweetie. Here, I wanted to give you this.”

          He reached into his pocket, pulled out a photograph and placed it into her hand. It was of her in the wedding dress from the previous night. The sight of it made her feel sick and almost sent her into another panic attack.

          “I had it printed this morning before work,” he explained, his tone kind once more. “I’m on my lunch break now so I decided to come home and give it to you. And check on you kiddos, of course.”

          Rey gave him a weak smile. “Thank you. I’ll see if I can find a frame in the closet.”

          Papa checked his watch then quickly kissed Rey’s forehead. “Okay, I gotta head back in to work now. Kyle, make sure there’s no mouse in your sister’s room, will you? Be good both of you and I’ll see you tonight.”

          He left them there, with Ben’s glare following him up the stairs. When the door had shut and the footsteps were gone, Ben pulled Rey to him in a tight hug. He rubbed her back as he had before. It was comforting to her and she wished she could just remain there forever in his protective embrace.

          “Are you okay?” he asked after releasing her.

          “Not really,” mumbled Rey. “He makes me feel so helpless—like I’m too much of a coward to fight back against him.”

          “No you’re not,” Ben assured her. “There’s nothing wrong with staying silent to save yourself. We’re surviving down here and that takes a lot of courage to do.”

          She allowed him to check the back of her neck, which ached but was the least of her problems at the moment. He swore as he examined it.

          “Every time he hurts you, I wish I could just punch him in the face,” Ben grumbled. “You’re way smaller than him—it’s not fair.”

          “Then let’s do it,” said Rey, turning around to give him a determined look. “Let’s figure out a way to put an end to his horror. Let’s make sure he never hurts anyone ever again. Come on, let’s plan a way to kill Papa.”


End file.
